TV Wormholes, Guardians and a Clueless Earth Chick
by Sarahfelixclaremordred
Summary: Having foolishly refused to pay the admissions fee to see 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' Ellie is at last due to be educated in film brilliance by a friend's TV set. What couldn't have been predicted was that the TV was in fact a wormhole: Ellie has been sucked into 'Guardians of the Galaxy.' Will Ellie survive among the team of misfits and, crucially, the plans of a genocidal maniac?
1. A Plethora of Wormholes

While Ellie may not know many things (her own choice of words, believe me!) she knew this much: getting sucked into a universe that doesn't really exist isn't her idea of fun, not to mention it should be impossible.

Her ears were ringing. Colours span around in her head and before her eyes; light, dark, light again; there was no regularity with them, just like the pattern of accidents in the world. Her thoughts muddled, she tried to make sense of what had just happened. She had been in her friend's front room just a few seconds ago, twirling a piece of popcorn between two fingers, waiting for him to return with the much needed _Dr Pepper_ to continue what he had called an 'emergency meeting.' He had been horrified by the fact that she had never been exposed to what he called 'the movie of their generation,' and had promised to awaken her to the wonders of both the movie and the music that existed before dubstep.

And now? The screen had been in front of her, what she had called 'aged title music' had been playing, and then nothing._ Perhaps the popcorn was off. _What was beneath her was surely hard ground, not the comfortable sofa she had been sitting on.

"What's this here? You reckon its dead?"

The unexpected words echoed above her; loud and intrusive they reverberated and Ellie winced at their intensity, ready to deliver a much deserved kick to whoever it was. Plus, whoever had drugged her popcorn. She cracked open an eye. There above her, gently moving in a breeze was the branches of a spreading tree, solid and of warm colours; the occasional vine or olive green leaf clutching to its form. In its comforting shadow, Ellie was instantly reminded of long summer afternoons, lying beneath the majestic oak at the bottom of her garden, an excellent book spread over her lap, devouring Dippin' Dots and fiction alike. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in, nostalgia easing the pain in her head somewhat. Ellie grinned up at the tree.

It blinked.

With a choked inhale, she jerked violently and backed away, raising one hand in front of her as a shield. Her back collided with the wall behind her as he head throbbed painfully. The tree towered over her, parts of it protruding outwards to serve as limbs and what she could now see was a head; a humanoid tree. It seemed to fill out every part of her vision with its forestry. For Ellie, it was a creature which until minutes before had existed only on the cover of a DVD case.

_This is a dream. It must be. This is a _movie _for crying out loud! How can-?_

"Aw, it's alive. Damn."

The voice had come not from above Ellie, but in front. Wrenching her eyes away from the spectacle that was the walking tree with some difficulty, she faced the source of the words; her breath caught in her chest. The speaker wore something which resembled ravagers getup, nothing that anyone earthly would be able to get away with without being accused of being a hard-core comic-con worshipper, with a gun enormous for his size slung over his back. But these could not compare to the most surreal factor.

_A racoon. Good Lord, it's a racoon. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Cuddle! _

_ Hang on, I remember him._ She racked her brains for the little information she had._ His name is Rocket, and he winds up as one of the heroes, right? Calm down. _She took deep breaths, calming herself and organising her thoughts, meeting the small unblinking eyes of the racoon with a steady gaze. _Whatever's going on here, be it a dream or LSD, nothing will be solved with panic. _Looking around, Ellie became aware that she was in some sort of alleyway; narrow and whitewashed, not filthy like the ones near her home. She was crouched in the shadows, away from the warmth of the sun which crept into the first few feet of the alley.

"What's the matter with you, blondie?" The furry specimen had his arms crossed, distrust glittering in his beady eyes. "One too many canteens?"

"I've got one mother of a headache." _I'm talking to a racoon. Well, you know what they say about the rich tapestry of life…_ "Scratch that actually; call it a grandmother. Ouch!" She pressed a hand to the side of her head among her blonde curls, relieved that when she pulled her hand away there was no blood. Internal concussion was fine, but blood? No thank you.

The vast humanoid tree leaned down; his face, while bark clad, somehow managed to look concerned. He blinked once, slowly taking in Ellie's face and form, before rewarding her patience with a smile.

"I am Groot."

His voice was deep and guttural, advantageous to his alien form Ellie supposed, but it was oddly comforting too. She grinned up at him.

"Nice to know you, Mr. Groot. I'm Ellie."

"I am Groot."

"Ah, yeah, I got that."

"I am Groot."

"Nope." Rocket leapt up onto the humanoid tree's shoulder, wrapping one small hand around a vine in the creature's neck. "Very much alive."

"I am Groot?"

Rocket groaned. "How should I know if there's any lasting damage?"

"Does he say anything else?" Ellie asked as she pushed herself to her feet, still leaning against the wall in case her head began to pound and throb again.

Rocket snorted, tugging at the collar of his tunic about his neck. "Don't get into that; trust me. No good will come from it. Or money for that matter, rendering it pointless."

"Money?" _So this guy must be the 'Han Solo' sort of character? Or perhaps 'R2D2' is more accurate? _'Star Wars' was one movie she had seen, though looking at the effects Rocket was supporting, not to mention his colossal gun, Ellie thought it best to not compare him to the tiny stout droid to his face, be it a fictional character or not. _But Rocket is a fictional character too! At least I thought so…_

"What have you got on you, anyhow?" Rocket peered down at her from Groot's shoulder, picking her apart.

"Apart from my clothes?" _Thank God. _"Nothing."

Rocket huffed in disappointment. "Well, you ain't got nothing on you worth our time, so we'll be making tracks now."

Ellie frowned. "Were you going to mug me?"

"No! Just loot your dead corpse; much less dangerous."

"Oh, well that's fine then." Ellie snorted sarcastically. "You always this honourable, Mr. Rocket?"

Rocket's little back eyes widened and narrowed in almost a nanosecond, his form stiffening. Groot stood stock still, rooted to the ground almost like the tree he was.

"Hold up one second, lady." Rocket slid down one of Groot's arms and stood in front of her. "How do you know who we are?"

Ellie gulped as subtly as she dared. Her knowledge, or rather, where she acquired said knowledge, made no sense even to her. She knew the names of the main characters and bits and pieces she had been told by hard-core fan boys/girls that she called friends, but that was about it. _It's all general knowledge back home._ All that she could see around her was Canon, make belief, a resurrected 60s comic book; right? _But it probably won't do to tell this gun wielding rodent that._

"Well, Groot here already introduced himself, as you must have noticed by now…"

"I am Groot." The giant creature nodded his head. Encouraged, Ellie clutched at the small knowledge she had of the blockbuster hit that she had foolishly refused to pay the admission price for.

"I've heard of your particular duo; I mean a giant walking tree and a racoon? Come on."

Ellie heard Rocket hiss _"What's a racoon?" _but chose to ignore him.

"You aren't exactly easy to miss." Ellie tidied her T-shirt and jeans as she spoke. "You guys are outlaws right? You must have a wanted poster somewhere."

"Outlaws? Criminals yes, but we hunt for bounties, missy; we're not your run of the mill petty thieves or murderers. We're in it for the money. You want outlaws, you can try the little time ones like the ones we hunt for, or the world shaking kind like Ronan the Accuser."

_Ronan? Oh yeah, he's the antagonist of this movie, right? Some terrorist fanatic? I remember the promotional movie poster of him, but that's about it. Damn, why did I condemn the movie as a flop before going to see it for myself?_

"Don't clump us together with them." Rocket finished, his furry features offended and his arms folded across his chest.

"That's rich, coming from someone who has no problem with looting dead bodies." Ellie mimicked him, crossing her arms. "I'm just trying to make sure you didn't think I knew you through a dangerous third party or something."

"You? With your banged up head, dangerous to us? What are you, a teenager? Missy, if you were anywhere but Xandar, you'd have been eaten alive by now."

"I'm twenty years old, actually." Ellie huffed, before blinking at the unfamiliar word. "Xandar? What's that?"

"Boy you really are smacked up aren't you? _This_," Rocket stamped his foot on the ground beneath him, "Is Xandar. This alley is Xandar, the air, the sky and the folks are all something to do with Xandar."

Rocket walked to the end of the alleyway, and gestured airily beyond it.

"Xandarians. What a bunch of losers. Ah, look at them in a big hurry to get from something stupid to nothing at all." He shook his small head, fingering the gun on his back. "Pathetic."

Ellie was barely listening. Leaning out of the dankness of the alley just behind where Rocket was trying to monologue, she was dazzled for a moment by the sun, which reflected effortlessly off the whiteness; but this did nothing to prevent Ellie's mouth from falling open at the sight. Xandar (wherever that was) was visibly and unbelievably technologically and architecturally advanced; nowhere Ellie could think of on earth could compare even the slightest to the slender curves of the buildings or the whiteness of their colour, nor to their mammoth structure. Staring around, she suddenly became aware of her own insignificance; her father had once told her that the sassiest person meant as much as the sassiest beetle, and only now did she understand what he meant.

The people were a curiosity too; they were indiscriminate when it came to primary colours, boosting all kinds of elaborate and colourful hairstyles, with the golden sun glancing off their catholic skin hues. They moved about their business gracefully, adults and children alike; Ellie certainly didn't agree with Rocket calling them pathetic. But all this held marginal interest for her when compared to one simple fact; most of them if not all looked content, smiling easily.

_If this is a dream or something induced, it's a damn good one. It seems so real! _Then another, perhaps more disconcerting thought pushed its way to the surface of her mind. _Can it be real?_

"It's amazing." She said quietly.

Something snorted disparagingly at her elbow. Rocket was watching her enraptured face cynically, and with a dismissive scoff he unhitched something that looked suspiciously like an iPad from his belt, turning it on with an electronic beep.

"Let's see if any of_ these_ useless suckers have heavy enough prices for our time."

Ellie frowned, ready to ask what was so purposeful about _his_ life that he could judge others so, but she stopped when she felt something touch her shoulder lightly. The branches of Groot's gentle fingers gripped around her shoulder mildly.

"I am Groot?" It was a question, Ellie could tell.

"I'm sorry." She shrugged, "I'm afraid I don't-"

"He asked if you're a Xandarian." Came Rocket's voice from the mouth of the alleyway.

"I'm a person."

"Well, that really narrows it down – hold up! What have we here?"

His change in tone was enough to make her curious. Ellie frowned and peered at the machine in Rocket's paws. She blinked. It was most definitely not an iPad; never mind that, it was most definitely the most advanced hunk of technology she had ever seen, the likes of which couldn't possibly be from earth. He had it held up to the level of his face and had been scanning the crowds, but now it was focused on the face of a man on the higher levels. _Okay, it's bleeping and there are red flashes. _Ellie mused while looking at the machine. _This must be a critical plot point._

"Okay, let's see how bad someone wants to find ya." Information began to pile up on the screen, a name and codename for the face and a numerical figure which caused Rocket's eyes to widen and his paws to tighten on his machine. "Forty-thousand units? Groot, we're gonna be rich!" He turned about with glee, clicking his bounty seeker back to his belt.

"Come on, Groot!" He disappeared around the corner, but not before Ellie heard his parting wish. "We're bagging this one if it kills him!"

Ellie started as she felt Groot move past her, the gentle pressure of his hand leaving her shoulder. He turned back for a moment to deliver a small parting wave before following his furry companion, his long strides soon allowing Rocket to swing upwards onto his shoulders once more, unfurling what looked like a body bag as he went.

"Kills him? Aw man, they can't kill the protagonist!"

Before any rationality became possible, Ellie found herself sprinting after the retreating bounty seekers. After all, Peter Quill aka Star Lord was the only one on the DVD case who looked even remotely human. Perhaps he _was_ human; _there must be a possibility that earth still exists in this TV wormhole._ Perhaps he knew enough about relevant pop culture to get her home.


	2. In Which an Epic Chase Ensues

Pushing past two yellow skinned women, Ellie skidded to a halt. Everything around her was white, the higher and lower levels of the complex alike seemingly polished to perfection; _spared no expense on the cleaning bills apparently _she thought as she scanned the crowds. Searching for a certain man. Or racoon. Or giant tree humanoid.

_Come on Ellie; how the hell can you lose them? A walking tree for goodness sake!_

"Bag 'im!" A familiar voice rang out from the higher levels. Craning her neck, she watched Rocket leap through the air, coming to land atop the shoulders of a dark haired and green skinned woman, bringing her to the ground. She shrieked and writhed around, Rocket holding on for dear life as a stream of profanities left his mouth. As Ellie watched, Groot began to grow. The vines about his person lengthened, twisting effortlessly through the air and towards the green skinned woman before wrapping her in an iron like embrace.

"Not her!" Rocket yelled. "Him! Learn genders!"

_This technology, the things they're doing…should be impossible. _

Quill was on his feet again, running as fast as he could from the fray, something glinting in his fist. At the sight of Quill's withdrawing form, and using strength that really shouldn't have gone hand in hand with her size, the green skinned woman wrenched free from her bindings, splintering Groot, seized rocket by his jacket and propelled him; right up and then right down…towards Ellie.

"Holy Cow!" Ellie Cried. "Hang on, I've gotcha, I've gotcha…" She started scrambling backwards, her arms raised as Rocket flew towards her, screaming as he went, his gun flying out of his outstretched paw. And then…_slam_! His furry body crashed into her just as she wrapped her arms around his little form, the power of the collision sending her backwards.

"Gotcha!" Ellie announced proudly as she fell: the floor was hard, but she had at least prevented any permanent damage to Rocket. The alternative, which was him crashing into panes of glass, would be painful; of that much she was certain.

"Hey! Get off, blondie!" Rocket wiggled out of her grasp, making for his gun. "That guy's our units; our booty!"

"Well, I need to have a word with said 'booty!'" Ellie pushed herself to her feet, put out by his ingratitude. "So would you mind waiting till after our chinwag to murder him?"

Not waiting for an answer, Ellie skidded away across the polished floor, searching desperately for a set of stairs to take her upwards, accidentally colliding with a tall man on the way. He wore a blue uniform, starched to the point where Ellie was tempted to try and balance a glass on each of his shoulders. It folded over itself to be sealed with a shiny row of dark buttons all the way up to his neck, wrapping around beneath his chin like a fist. As she took in the symbolic strap of office around his upper arm, she knew he must be an official of some sort; a soldier of Xandar? Either way he paid the interruption no mind, evidently deciding he had bigger aliens to fry. Not that Ellie minded; she too had found something more worthwhile.

"Oh stairs, how I've missed you!" She cooed, earning a few confused looks from those standing nearby.

She darted up the stairs as quickly as she could, being rewarded with an excellent view of the city from the upper level…only to find herself side on from the retreating form of Peter Quill, aka Star Lord aka protagonist of movie she was somehow now a part of. _Try not to think about it too much. _

A shriek further up the platform claimed her attention; people were backing away from a slender figure with a purposeful stride, one which – _oh man _– was unfurling in one green hand a lethal looking knife, her eyes fixed on Quill's retreating figure. Quill was almost level with Ellie on the platform now. _If her aim is as slick as her fighting, Quill's doomed._ The knife cut through the air.

Acting completely on instinct, Ellie reached out and snatched at the knife, amazingly managing to catch it before it grazed Quill's hand. _Hm. Wasn't expecting that._ He turned about in surprise at the unexpected manoeuvre, something silver flashing in his hands as he span it between his fingers, tossing it around carelessly. _Is that what they were fighting over? A tiny sphere? _Ellie thought, twirling the knife idly around in her hand_. No. Focus!_

"Hey! Star Lord?"

"Ah, you've heard of me, eh?" His voice and its tone sounded so incredibly _normal _and _human _Ellie almost laughed out loud in relief. Not everyone was a talking racoon after all.

"Look I've had a really crazy day so far. I've hit my head, I think I got sucked into a TV set and into a universe that shouldn't exist and I should be eating popcorn and drinking _Dr Pepper_ right now: what the heck is happening?"

Quill blinked, tossing the sphere upwards once and catching it effortlessly. "You're right." He laughed, turning away. "You really have hit your head."

"You're the only one I've seen who looks remotely human; I could really use your help."

"Well, things are tough all over, cupcake," He said nonchalantly, but then he stopped, turning to look at her with a piercing look.

"Wait, did you say _human_?" Quill had stopped spinning the sphere, his attention completely focused on her. "You're from _Terra_?"

"I can't pretend to know what you're talking about-" Instinctively perhaps, Ellie took a step back, the knife slipping to the ground. In that moment, she felt her head erupt into blinding pain once more. The force of it threw her forwards to the ground; _a migraine? _The idea was dashed from her head as she became shadowed by the figure of something which leapt over her, green skinned and graceful. _Ah, the old kick to the head _Ellie alleged as she watched Quill and Gamora leap to the lower levels, _and she doesn't even know me. Rude._

Relieved to have not been knocked out, she pushed herself to her feet, realising with a bout of exasperation that they were right where she had been to begin with.

_Up and down, up and down. _"Will you make up your mind?" She called, irritated, to no one in particular as she utilised the flight of stairs for a second time, not daring to take her eyes off Quill lest he disappear again.

He was grappling on the floor with the green skinned woman, who had unsheathed yet another knife _how many of those things has she got? _As Ellie watched with a mixture of awe and disapproval, Quill attached something from his utility belt to the green skinned woman which catapulted her high into the air, spinning into a fountain in the middle of the courtyard, but not before he snagged the silver sphere. Ellie reached the ground.

"Hey, hey Quill!" She began to rush towards the triumphant looking figure. "I need -"

Before she could say another word, Quill had vanished. That is to say he had been scooped up into the grey sack and thrown over the shoulder of a certain grinning walking tree, no doubt to collect a shocking sum of money from whoever wanted Quill alive, _or dead! How can he answer my questions if he's dead?!_

"Groot, wait!" Ellie raced towards him and got his attention by jumping up and down in front of him. "I need to talk to him!"

"I am Groot." He said, looking down at her, still grinning.

"Quit smiling," said Rocket, shaking his head at Groot. "You're supposed to be a professional – oh, you've got to be kidding me." He groaned at the sight of a particular green alien.

Rocket tried to stop the progress of the green skinned woman, only to be once again tossed to the side, swearing as he slid across the shiny polished floor. The woman unsheathed her knives again, making her way towards one concerned looking Groot, who was still clutching the bagged Quill in his strong twigs. Then she unleashed; _I suppose this is her final form._ Each swift stroke from the knives was brutal and cruelly precise; she hacked at Groot's arms, severing and splintering limbs from torso, sending them flying through the air.

Ellie was horrified. "Groot! Hey, leave him alone!" She ran towards the green skinned woman, only to receive a blow to the chest. _Should have seen that coming._ Clearly the woman had decided Ellie was small potatoes, because the shock was only enough to cause her to fall onto her butt; she could have easily flung Ellie into the fountain with her pinkie finger.

Crumpled in a heap a few feet from Groot, Ellie watched as the green skinned woman crouched over the grey bag, triumph dancing about her features and she reached down to open it._ If he's killed…he's the only link I have to home! _There was no way she could make it there in time to stop the woman slicing his throat; heck, she wouldn't be able to stop the act, period.

"Don't kill him!" Ellie cried out in a fit of desperation.

To her great surprise, the green skinned woman looked up from her charge to Ellie, her brow wrinkling with confusion; it was only for a moment, but a moment was all Peter Quill needed. Crouching in the bag, he pulled from his belt yet another gadget and sent what looked like several hundred volts of electricity into the bones of the green alien. She writhed around, blue bolts of electricity singing the ends of her hair and convulsing her limbs. Then she lay quite still.

Quill leapt into a standing position and began to run, or tried to run: the bag was still around his ankles.

Ellie groaned. "Ah, damn. There he goes again!"

"Not to worry, blondie." Rocket had picked himself up and had finally decided to utilise his most obvious weapon; he pulled the gun from his back, the leather strap snapping as he did so.

"You see, I live for the simple things." He said as he unloaded the gun, holding it carefully as it expanded into its mammoth full size, pointing it very precisely at the back of a certain Star Lord. "Like how much this is going to hurt."

Before Ellie could say a word, Rocket unloaded an enormous bolt of electricity into Quill's back, causing the man to crash instantly to the floor, thrashing round just as the green woman had been moments before, yelling in pain. A kind of poetic justice Ellie supposed, but despite the distance between them, she blanched at the agonizing sight; her stomach wasn't exactly accustomed to such violence.

"Yeah, writhe little man." Snickered Rocket.

"Nice." Ellie sniffed. "Really sadistic."

"All part of the job, missy." Rocket grinned in a contented way. "And part of the fun too, I suppose."

A pitiful sound, a moaning, started up over Ellie's shoulder. Groot was looking pitifully down at the stumps where his arms had once grown, and Ellie had no control over the hand she laid sympathetically on his shoulder, standing on tiptoes to do so.

"It's okay, big guy – "

"They'll grow back you daft idiot, quit whining!" Scoffed Rocket.

"He's just had his arms severed, you-" Ellie never got to finish.

The ground suddenly left her feet, or rather, she suddenly left the ground. The smooth, white ground fell away beneath her, leaving her with a sudden painful sickening lurch of nerves and shock in her stomach; _an alien abduction? How redundant._ Twisting her head around wildly she saw, glowing and buzzing around her was some sort of golden force field, holding her as securely as any physical bindings would.

Ellie gave a yelp of surprise. "What the-?"

_*Subject 89P13, drop your weapon!* _

"Ah Crap." Rocket groaned under his breath, allowing his gun to slip from his paws. He, Groot and the green woman were also caught in the light; the light which Ellie could now see was emitting from what looked like several flying stars (_Spaceships?_) An amplified voice echoed from the closest one. 

_*By the authority of the Nova Corps you are under arrest for civil disturbance and the destruction of property.* _

_Under arrest? Holy-_

"Hey, if it isn't _Star Prince_!" A jovial voice rang out from across the courtyard. Craning around as best she could in the hold of the golden force field, she saw it belonged to the man she had collided with earlier. He had Quill by the arm, binding his hands behind his back.

The star like ships loomed closer. "Oh, snap…"


	3. The Kiln (Set of 'Riddick')

"Well, this isn't exactly how I pictured spending my afternoon…"

The corridors around Ellie were made of a durable looking black metal, stretching on forever in front of her; pipes twisting about the walls and ceilings, creating an even more claustrophobic feel. Ellie groaned at her predicament. After being thoroughly cross-examined and corrected by the Nova Corps that 'The Kiln' was in fact not a giant oven, she had been shipped away with the others, hands bound, to a maximum security prison. With all her questions unanswered and the shock of being transported to a sci-fi universe wearing off, she was feeling just a _little_ put out.

As she knew they would be unable to, the Nova Corps couldn't find any records attached to her given name or DNA; no birthplace, no parental records, nada. _"Send her to the Kiln with the rest until we figure out what to do with her." _They had said. So now here she was, marching along in front of a bounty hunter tree and behind a Star Lord in the middle of a maximum security prison.

_We don't know who you are, so we're going to put you in prison. What kind of system is this?!_

"How were you picturing it?" Rocket's voice rang out from up front. "Champaign, the old two martini lunch, a little confab – that's how I pictured mine, after we handed in Star Captain here."

"Star Lord, it's _Star Lord_."

"What kind of luck is this anyway?" Ellie raised her bound hands upwards imploringly. "Sucked into a TV and into another dimension in which thankfully Earth still exists, no popcorn or _Dr Pepper_ and I can't believe I got arrested; I didn't even do anything!"

"I can't believe I got taken down by a raccoon..." Muttered Quill in a kind of agony.

"Raccoon? What's a raccoon?"

"It's what you are, stupid!"

"Ain't no thing like me, except me!"

"There's loads of raccoons on Earth." Ellie said idly. "Admittedly, none of them can talk –"

"Thank you! See, Terran knowledge reigns supreme as always." Quill tilted his head around to look at her. "Though I wasn't expecting to bump into another human all the way out here; we don't tend to travel. Ellen, was it?"

"Ellie, Star Prince. Ellie."

"Star _Lord_!"

Ellie's stifled snigger did not go unnoticed. While still striding along with the pace, Quill looked Ellie up and down, taking in her attire.

"What were you even doing with this freakish pairing, kid?" He jerked his head in the general direction of Rocket, who growled slightly at Quill's assessment. "You don't look exactly kitted out to be a criminal, period: let alone a bounty hunter."

"Look, I just want to get back to earth, okay? I'm just relieved earth still exists."

Quill gave her an incredulous look before returning to face the front.

"So," he said. "This orb has an 'Ark of the Covenant' 'holy grail' be all end all sort of vibe. What is it?"

"I have no words for an honourless thief." The green skinned woman who Ellie now knew was called Gamora spoke, her words bitter.

"That's pretty high and mighty coming from the lackey of a genocidal maniac." Gamora turned to face Rocket, surprise written across her features. Rocket huffed impatiently. "Yeah, I know who you are. Anyone who's anyone knows who you are."

"Who is she?" Quill asked just as Ellie muttered, "Genocidal maniac?"

"I wasn't retrieving the Orb for Ronan. I was betraying him. I had an agreement to sell it to a third party."

"Ronan? Now _him _I've heard of." Groot seemed to be the only one listening to her, so Ellie twisted her head around, directing her words at him. "Isn't he a terrorist?"

"I am Groot."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot."

"I am Groot."

"Well," said an obnoxious Quill, "That's just as fascinating as the first 89 times you told me that. What is wrong with Giving Tree here?" He asked Rocket.

"Well he don't know talkin' good like me and you, so his vocabulistics is limited to "I" and "am" and "Groot," exclusively in that order."

"Well I tell you what, that's gonna wear real thin, real fast, bud."

Ellie huffed. "Speak for yourself. I only met him today, and I find his company to be inspiring. Probably because he's the only one who listens to me." Groot gave an appreciative rumble.

Quill snorted with laughter. "Well, that's probably because nothing you say makes any damn sense."

"You're from earth too." Ellie shook her head at him. "You should know how contagious stupidity is down there."

Quill opened his mouth, probably to relieve some pop culture only she would understand, but then he stopped, looking to his left. There was a moment of blankness on his face, but then it was abruptly replaced with fury. Ellie frowned in alarm and looked in the same direction. They were alongside a room, in which several uniformed prison guards were bustling about their work, not pausing to glance up or take a leisurely sip of tea as human employees would have done. They were arranging belongings in many small cases; there were Rocket's effects, Quill's bag, Gamora's knives. Ellie spotted her jacket. _They'd better fold it._

"Hey, hey, hey! That's mine! Hey, take those headphones off right now, you blue bastard!"

Moving fast, Quill managed to slip through the door separating them from the guards just before it slid shut with a hiss. Ellie peered through the grating. One of the alien guards, a blue skinned man, had on his head what Ellie now recognised as Quill's Walkman; _loaded with 70s gold no doubt_._ But worth a beating? _

Ellie groaned. "Speaking of earthling stupidity…Quill, what are you-?"

"_That belongs in impound! That belongs to me!_" Quill yelled, raising his hands, no doubt to try and throttle the life out of the man.

He didn't get far. With a roar, the blue skinned guard unsheathed what Ellie initially thought was a baton, but in shoving it into Quill's chest she saw the cruel blue flashes of electricity. With a shout, Quill crashed to the floor almost at once, his legs giving way beneath him as the sparks coursed through his body.

"Hooked on a Feeling, Blue Swede!" Quill gasped from his knees, lifting his head up with considerable effort. "1973! That song belongs to me!"

The prison guard let Quill know of his sentiments regarding ownership of the Walkman almost instantly.

"Dear God, I'm not going to last in here." Ellie muttered, watching Quill convulse around on the floor. "Rocket, have you really escaped 22 prisons?"

"Unlike the reward we'll be picking up for 'Stupid Lord' in there, that figure ain't inflated."

"Fancy taking me with you when you do? Dropping me off at good ol' Terra?"

"Not sure if that's _en-route_ to Yondo and his 40K, blondie."

_I look like a banana. Great._

Suited out in the yellow prisoner uniform, Ellie accepted a bundle from a yellow skinned prison guard. By accepted, it was slammed into her chest as she walked through the entranceway of the main communal area of the prison; it was heaving with other inmates of all ages, genders and species. Some looked like they might be human, others were more bravely coloured and others looked extremely inhuman. All that aside, most if not all of them were bigger than her. In some cases by several feet.

Ellie looked ahead at Quill, relieved as ever that she wasn't the only human around, when he was suddenly hit in the side of the head with something. Laughter bubbled up in her chest, but she stifled it when she heard the shouts. On the upper levels and down in the communal area alike, many inmates were glaring at their entrance and screeching obscene words and threats, their faces twisted in what Ellie could only describe as hate.

"You're first Gamora!" She heard one bellow. Others were still throwing things; not at Quill, Ellie now knew.

Ellie threw a questioning glance at Rocket, who snorted.

"You worried about lasting in here? You're gonna last a lot longer than assassin chick here. She's got a rep. Lot of prisoners here lost their families to Ronan and his goons. She'll last a day, tops."

Ellie felt herself flash hot and cold all over, noticing the sharp teeth of one vicious looking inmate as he hurled crude words in Gamora's direction. "But the guards will protect her right? They must uphold the law here as much as they did back on Xandar?"

Rocket's smile was wry. "They're here to stop us from getting out. They don't care what we do to each other on the inside."

"You've got to be kidding me." Ellie grumbled as she hugged her pack closer to her chest, any feeling of security fleeing. "That's insane! We're trapped in a madhouse!" _God, why are you doing this to me? For the first ten years of my life I went to church diligently every Sunday; does that count for nothing?_

"Whatever nightmares the future holds are dreams compared to what's behind me." Came Gamora's ominous declaration. Looking back to her, Ellie caught her eye and to her great surprise found not the flames of a warrior ready to fight; there was a deep sorrow there instead, hand in hand with clear untold stories.

"I don't know about that." Ellie said, trying hard to lighten the mood. "Hanging out with these guys has proven to bring nothing but trouble so far; I think the nightmares of the future are really going to be something to behold."

Gamora stepped into line with Ellie. "Are you not this man's lover?" She asked. Ellie thanked God that Quill was too far away to hear.

"Wha-? No way! What the heck gave that impression?"

"Back on Xandar, you asked me to not kill him."

Ellie spluttered for a moment before managing to find words. "Okay, first of all, that was because I needed him alive to find out if earth, or _Terra _as you all seem to call it, was still around; he was the only other human I could see. Secondly, I've known him for as long as you and thirdly, he seems like a cocky, arrogant –"

Before Ellie could dig her hole any further, a horrible, bloodcurdling shriek cut through the air, casing Ellie to leap back a foot or so. Blinking in confusion for a moment and staring around, she was greeted by a surreal sight. Groot was standing face to face with a mammoth of a blue alien, quite easily his equal in size; towering over Ellie by at least a foot, if not more.

However, this wasn't the icing on the cake.

Groot had two of his branches that served for fingers rammed up the alien's nostrils, lifting him from the ground with ease. The creature was howling, grasping at Groot's vines to try and ease the pressure on his nose; he kicked and clawed, but to no avail. Rocket, taking advantage of the sudden attention on them, addressed the entire congregation.

"Let's make something clear. This one here's our booty." He pointed at Quill. "You want to get to him, you go through us. Or more accurately, _we go through you_!"

With a sickening crush and squelch, the giant blue specimen fell from Groot's strong fingers to the floor, howling and writhing with pain and he clutched at his nose, _or perhaps where his nose once was. Juicy. _Ellie blanched at the blood seeping from between the blue, sausage like fingers.

Quill's eyes flicked around nervously for a second, but only for a second. "I'm with them." He said, stepping over his would be assailant.

Not needing a prompt, Ellie gestured towards herself, calling "Me too!" as she stepped gingerly around the thrashing blue humanoid. Glancing back, she saw Gamora rolling her eyes.

However, before Ellie could catch up to Groot and hide in his leaves, she found her way blocked by a prison guard. "Not that way missy," he said, holding out a hand to stop her and steering her towards the upper levels. "You get to share with Thanos spawn here."

Staring up at him, Ellie gulped. The issue was not so much that Gamora kicked her in the head the first time they met; _I'm more concerned about pretty much everyone else in the prison. What if they think I'm Gamora's accomplice? _But there was not much she could do; the guard marched her up the stairs, Gamora behind them and unfortunately pretty much the rest of the prison population behind them too.

"That cell's not going to protect you for long!" A man looking suspiciously like a Klingon growled, glaring daggers. _I do hope that wasn't intended for me._

"God, I just want to go home."

Ellie stepped into the cell before Gamora, trying not to think about the tight space, _no room to swing a cat_, and the mass of roiling and broiling hatred behind her congealed into a mass of furious inmates. It didn't matter that it wasn't aimed at her; she could still feel the points of their words. Even after the cell door had closed firmly behind them with a hiss, ugly faces still pressed against the glass. One inmate slammed his hand against the glass, causing Gamora's sudden intake of breath and the stiffening of her frame.

Sitting on what passed as a cot opposite, Ellie wondered what Rocket, Groot and Quill thought of Gamora; perhaps she was really still working for Ronan, and wanted to take the shiny orb of wonder and awe to him after all? What was so special about the orb anyway? _Wait, if I remember what the fan boys said correctly, Gamora really has betrayed Ronan. She's one of the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' after all. _Suddenly, Ellie noticed how slight Gamora really was, and how humanly she sat and held herself; _perhaps we're not so different. Well, excluding the fact that she's a kick ass warrior and I'm a college student._

"I believe you."

"What?" The reply was so quiet, Ellie wondered for a second if she had imagined it.

"What you said, I mean. Just so you know, I believe you…when you said that you betrayed Ronan."

Ellie paused for a moment, waiting for a reply. Gamora was still facing away from her; _physical acknowledgement obviously isn't necessary in this galaxy._ Through the thick silence, Ellie cleared her throat awkwardly.

"I know you kicked me in the head and all, but those guys' murdering you doesn't really sit well with me, okay? So, you know…"

Gamora finally looked at her; indeed only for a moment before she curled up on her cot, but it was enough. If Ellie didn't know any better she would have called the momentary sparkle in Gamora's eyes a glint of gratitude, but people who have recently been sucked into TV sets tend to be more hesitant about jumping to conclusions. _At least she's not kicking my head in; I'll take that as a positive indication. _

Ellie sighed and hesitantly glanced at the cell door for where she sat, relieved to find that the lynch mob seemed to have departed. She walked up and pressed her face to the glass hesitantly, looking around, breathing out in relief when no colourful aliens jumped out to say 'boo!'

_All the same, I feel weird, like electricity keeps shooting up and down my spine. It could have something to do with being arrested today, but I feel like I'm being watched. _She ran her hands up and down her arms, trying to warm herself, and found her eyes sliding downwards, down to the lower levels.

Ellie automatically jerked back from the glass violently. He was sitting at one of the tables down in the main communal area, one hand fisted on the table, staring straight up at the cell. His skin was grey, but not dull. Exquisite red patterns spread over his face, chest and arms; like contemporary tattoos, though she got the feeling that they weren't inked on. His piercing blue eyes had found Ellie.

_Hold up, wasn't he on the DVD case too? _Ellie gulped, taking in his enormous physique. His stare was calculating, morose and frightening to her; she was pretty sure that just a little pressure from those hands on her neck would snap the life out of her. _Judging by that murderous look, I don't think my usual trick of bribing with Doritos is going to work. I guess that means, for better or worse, we're going to become acquainted. _


	4. The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary, be it where it may, was a desolate and uninhibited part of the galaxy, so named because it was the dwelling of the Titan Thanos: as the self-proclaimed most powerful being in the universe, he had no need to carry out his deeds and plans himself. Among the black and purple space beyond, fragments of dead planets moved listlessly about, almost seeming to be grieving. From his throne, Thanos could watch how the galaxy was laid out before him, glittering and winking at him from millions of miles away: he was the overseer. Seemingly omniscient, he planned its fate himself; to him, his dominion over it was unquestionable.

Not that the Accuser cared.

"With all due respect, Thanos, your daughter made this mess, and yet you summon _me_?"

He stood before the throne of Thanos, who was regarding the stars beyond, his back to the furious Kree fanatic. Ronan the Accuser did not like to be ignored, and very few dared to do so; standing at 6ft 5, the Accuser was a force to be reckoned with. Clad in his personally and impenetrably made black Kree armour, with an ancient metal warrior's headdress and fierce veins of black war paint framing his eyes and streaking down his face like black tears, he effectively struck terror into any in his path; and that was before the Universal Weapon in his hands was even utilised.

"I would lower my voice, Accuser!" The intermediary who had summoned the Accuser hissed. Ronan ignored him, continuing to speak to the back of the throne.

"First, she lost a battle to some primitive..."

"Thanos had put Gamora under your charge!"

"...then she was apprehended by the Nova Corps..."

"You are the one, here, with nothing to show for it!"

Irritation deepening into fury, Ronan's deep guttural hiss loudened into a roar. "Your sources say she meant to betray us the whole time!"

"_Lower your tone!_" The intermediary's hoarse crackle cut through the air.

The Warhammer in Ronan's hand was lethal and as deadly defined as his skill, and had taken the lives of men, women and children alike; one more meant nothing. With one swift and violent movement, Ronan precisely snapped the neck of the interruption with his Universal Weapon. The sudden quiet was almost deafening.

Under the watchful black eyes of Nebula, the sister of Gamora and a weapon by courtesy of Thanos, Ronan slowly turned back towards the ever silent throne.

"I only ask that you take this matter seriously."

Slowly and with great purpose, the throne began to turn, floating several feet off the ground of the sanctuary, it struck as an intimidating sight. There at last was Thanos, who was known as 'Titan' for a reason. His power was made a form in his gargantuan figure, purple skinned and clad in majestic looking golden armour, his eyes alive with intellectual malice; any minions or worshippers of his did not hesitate to brand him a god, for that was how he seemed.

"The only matter I do not take seriously, boy, is you." His voice was a deep baritone, resonant and powerful. "Your politics bore me! Your demeanour is that of a pouting child. And apparently, you alienated my favourite daughter, Gamora. I shall honour our agreement, Kree, if you bring me the Orb. But return to me again empty handed and I will bathe the star-ways with your blood."

Ronan glared up at Thanos as the threat hung in the air between them, barley able to prevent his mouth from sneering.

"But now there is a supplementary issue, one which I would encourage you to look into." Thanos leaned forward leisurely, delivering each word slowly and deliberately. "That is, if you wish to see a permanent end to Xandar."

Pausing for a moment, Thanos allowed the words to sink into the atmosphere around him, enjoying the momentary confusion on the Accuser's face at the unexpected statement.

"I see all." Thanos continued. "There is a disruption in the galactic equilibrium, one which is connected to the orb I seek. The source of this is of great concern to me; the connection is undeniable and potent."

"If you would tell me what is contained within –"

"That is none of your concern! What is your concern however is that the matter is centred around a lesser and inconsequential planet known as Terra; any link, no matter how brittle it seems, would be significant and worthy of your attention. That is, boy, if you care for your physical wellbeing."

Ronan tightened his hold on his destructive Warhammer, glaring up at Thanos with poorly disguised rage. Were his hatred against Xandar and the Nova Empire not as passionate, no power in existence could have forced him to demean himself before the mad Titan. As it were, it held every part of his being, leaving him no choice. Nebula slid gracefully down from her stone pedestal next to her adoptive father, her mechanical workings glinting in the pale light of the stars, a reminder of what she now was and a grievance to what she could have been.

"Thanks Dad; sounds fair." She said, walking towards Ronan.

"This is one fight you won't win." She said in a hushed tone to Ronan as she passed him. "Let's head to the Kiln."

Calculating, Ronan wondered what his chances were of splitting the mad Titan's skull open with his hammer before getting struck down himself; one quick fluid motion, and Thanos would be lying in a pool of blood at his feet and he, Ronan, would be the most powerful being in the universe…Then an image of Xandar burning encompassed his mind, the warriors screaming, families dying; his father and grandfather avenged.

Ronan threw one final shrewd look of vehemence at Thanos before following Nebula into the gloom, holding his weighty Warhammer effortlessly in one hand.

Thanos leaned back into his throne, watching the Accuser depart. His smile was contented, if not of course terrifying.


	5. Shanking is Bad Form!

The only light inside of the cell shifted slightly through clear part of the cell door; it was an eerie red glow which spread across the floor and walls like a fungus, most likely emanating from the blinking lights of the numerous consoles around the prison. All was quiet, not a sound to be heard. Only the breathing.

Clutching her blanket around her shoulders, Ellie turned over, closing her eyes again. _Perhaps this is the part when I wake up. I'll be back in my bed, surrounded by popcorn, Dr Pepper and Nachos. With Guacamole if I'm lucky. _The cold air around her and the hard surface beneath her snuffed out any hope of that almost instantly.

Then, without warning and with a telling hiss, the cell door sprang open. _Oh, damn me to hell. _They swarmed in almost instantly, a terrifying mass of yellow jumpsuits, leers and pointy objects. Ellie sat up instantly, clutching her blanket to her and trying to appear as small as possible in the corner. They didn't even look at her once. Converging on Gamora, they yanked her from her cot with such ferocity that she cried out in pain, a phenomenon Ellie had a feeling didn't happen often. The din of their raw laughter echoed. Holding her arms to her sides and a knife to their throat, they leered and snarled at her perfect green features, apparently very excited for what was to follow.

"What about…?" One of them gestured towards Ellie with his knife.

"Leave her." _Thank sweet Jesus._

As quickly as they had appeared, they vanished, dragging a protesting Gamora with them; Ellie was certain that if she weren't outnumbered, whomever dared to restrain her would have had a knife stuck up between their ribs instantly. Slowly and as quietly as she could, Ellie dared to poke her head out of the entrance, and was both amazed and scandalised to find one of the security guards there, speaking to the inmates imprisoning Gamora.

"Take her down to the showers. It'll be easier to clean up the blood down there." He said, looking out over the communal area without a care.

"What the hell?!" Ellie hissed, but thankfully no one was paying attention. _I guess Rocket was right. They really don't care what happens on the inside._

Gamora shrieked in her anger and helplessness as she was dragged away; the cries echoed across the icy steel walls, returning again and again. Imagining one of their knives sliding cross her throat, Ellie shivered, feeling bile rise in her throat. In that moment Ellie knew, no matter how scared she was feeling, she couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

Constantly checking all around, Ellie stepped gingerly out of the cell. She breathed a sigh of relief; she could see no one. _The guard has obviously gone to be corrupt someplace else._

"You, who share a cell with the green woman of Ronan the Accuser!" The voice rumbled like the din of thunder through the silence.

Leaping a foot in the air, Ellie wheeled around. "Who are you?"

Standing there, looming in the centre of the walkway like a predator was the enormous alien she had seen earlier; the burning look he had given her through the cell door remained unchanged. Up close, he was even more intimidating; built like a barge he towered over Ellie, looking as though a slight flex of his pinkie finger could hospitalise her.

"I am Drax the Destroyer." He said slowly, "You know why I am so named?"

"Because you destroy things?"

"An accurate assessment. All who have wronged me shall perish. I will destroy all who block my path to vengeance!"

"Present company excluded, I hope?"

"The green skinned woman of Ronan the Accuser." His blue eyes searched the interior of the cell swiftly. "Which way did she go?"

"There were some guys, they took her from the cell, they went that way; I think they're going to kill her!"

"They dare-!?" Fury took a hold on his features as he strode past her, and Ellie needed no prompting to get out of the way. Pressing herself to the wall, she watched him stride across the walkway and vanish around a corner.

Against any reasonable judgement she began to follow him: around a corner, down several flights of metal stairs, clanking as quietly as she could manage, across the communal area, down a corridor before finally reaching what Ellie supposed must be the showers. Drax had paused at the entrance, so Ellie hid behind a collection of metal pipes, listening to one of the inmate's hoarse trills.

"…consider this a death sentence for your crimes against the galaxy!"

"You dare!" The prisoners stiffened, turning at Drax's bellow. "You know who I am, yes?"

One of the prisoner's eyes widened in recognition, and then in fear. "You're Drax the Destroyer. You've slayed dozens of Ronan's minions."

Drax slowly paced away from the entrance and closer to the terrified banana bunch, allowing Ellie to sneak to the gaping hole in the wall, peering inside. _Great. Now what? I can hardly unload some ninjutsu on these guys. _Then, abruptly, she felt the pressure of fingers on her arm. Turning, she found herself looking up into the wide eyes of one Peter Quill. Rocket was shuffling around his ankles, also looking alarmed: Yondo wanted Quill back alive after all, not stuck full of knives or with his neck broken.

"Ronan killed my wife and my daughter. He slaughtered them where they stood, and he _laughed_!" As Drax raised his thunderous voice, the prisoner retreated a little, looking terror stricken. "Her life is not yours to take; he killed my family, and now I shall kill one of his in return."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding…" Ellie whispered, ignoring Quill as he _'sshhh'ed_ her, her naïve hope that someone would actually want to help Gamora vanishing. There was surely no way to stop this enormous beast of a man from getting what he wanted: the other inmates would present less of a challenge in that respect.

_Well, these inmates lost their families to Ronan too; I'm sure they wouldn't give up this opportunity to - _"Of course, Drax. Here…" _Damn._

The inmate relinquished his brutal looking knife, placing it into Drax's hand. The blade was curved and cruel looking; clearly whittled for carving. That is, carving flesh. He seized Gamora by the throat, pinning her to the wall behind her with frightening strength while she gasped, raising the knife above his head; his teeth were gritted, every muscle tense as he prepared to bury the knife in flesh. Innocent flesh.

"Hey, hey! _Stop!_"

Before Ellie even realised her muscles were reacting, she had leapt from the entrance, throwing off Quill's hand, crossed the floor and positioned herself between Drax and Gamora, wrapping her hands around the wrist of the arm squeezing the life out of the green skinned woman.

Drax looked down at her, astonished. "What – _you_? You are her _accomplice_?"

Gamora's eyes were wide. "Ellie, move out of the way." She gurgled with what little air she had.

_Ellie. _The long overdue use of her name only served to humanise Gamora further in Ellie's eyes, and strengthened her resolve. Behind her, Quill swore. She met Drax's fiery blue eyes as steadily as she could and as useless as it was, kept a grip on his wrist.

"Listen, I don't know much, I'll give you that, but I know that you shouldn't kill Gamora right now. It's Ronan you want really, right?"

"Blondie, get out of there!" Rocket's strangled hiss cut through the silence, but Ellie didn't dare look away; one of Drax's hands was free and holding a knife after all. Free to choke the life out of her at a moment's notice. Or stab her.

"Okay, you're not pinning me to the wall with that, that's good; I guess I'll carry on then. I know what you're thinking, but she's not anything to do with Ronan, at least not now: she betrayed him. Because of that, I'm willing to bet a lifetimes supply of Twinkies that he'll be coming here for her."

"That's right!" Quill swiftly stepped forward, while Rocket still stood frozen at the entrance. "And when he does, that's when you –" He drew his finger across his throat, while reaching towards Ellie with his other hand.

"Why would I put my finger on his throat?"

"What?" Quill was thrown for a moment, pausing. His eyes appealed to Ellie, who shrugged, as perplexed as he. She was just relieved Drax was now looking at someone else.

"Oh, no, it's a symbol. Meaning you'll slice his throat."

"I will not slice his throat. I will cut his head clean off –"

"It's just a general expression for killing someone." Quill wrapped a hand around Ellie's wrist and pulled her as subtly as he could manage from between Gamora and Drax. "You've heard of this, right Ellie?"

"Ah, yeah." She said, looking at Drax over Quill's shoulder. "I don't think that, of all gestures, is unique to earth somehow."

Drax looked at her for a second, before turning back to Gamora; _if looks could kill, Gamora would be a little pile of ash on the floor. _His eyes were full of a dangerous fire, but also something else, something much sadder; in that moment, he no longer looked like a destroyer: he looked like he himself had been destroyed. _He must really have lost his wife and child._ Ellie felt compelled to throw in her last two cents.

"If you kill Gamora, you'll just be doing Ronan a favour."

"Don't do his work for him." Quill added.

Drax stared at them both for an endless moment, making Ellie halfway glad that Quill had put himself between her and the Destroyer. He looked back to Gamora, then back at them again. Struggling for a moment, Ellie tried her best to wipe her face of any expression that might give away her fear. Then, after an eternity, he released Gamora's throat. She collapsed to the ground, gasping and holding her neck. _Phew. _

"This is an opportunity to destroy my enemy Ronan," Drax announced before adding to the inmate next to him "I like your knife: I'm keeping it."

"Ronan, Ronan, Ronan." Muttered Ellie, not particularly under her breath as Drax marched back through the exit. "I haven't even met him but even his name is already irritating the heck out of me. Why can't he be 'Ronan the Affectionate?' Killing a man's wife and child; _who does that_?"

Quill gave a '_I couldn't care less'_ kind of snort, and began to try and pull her away. Ellie dug her heels in as something occurred to her.

"That's a point." She said. "_Why _is he doing all this messed up stuff? Wasn't he hugged as a child?"

"I doubt he was." Ellie turned at the unexpected voice. One of the prisoners who had held Gamora to the wall was still standing there, looking cool as a cucumber; _it's Klingon man! _He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "The Kree are warriors by birth and are conditioned to be so from the moment they can walk; they're the most skilled and vicious of people when it comes to war, but that's not the reason for his murder sprees. The Kree Empire, Ronan's Empire, has been at war with the Nova Empire for _waaay_ many years. I should know; I'm from Nova Empire's capital planet, Xandar."

"The Empire? Are we sure that this isn't _Star Wars_?"

If the inmate was confused by her statement, he didn't show it. "But recently the Kree and the Nova empires signed a peace treaty to stop the fighting. The war between them is effectively over."

"But…that's a _good _thing, right?" Ellie asked, trying to ignore Quill who had begun to drag her across the floor like a sack of potatoes, on hand under and around her arm.

"Not to Ronan it's not. He has this crazy hatred of everything Xandarian, and probably won't rest until everything about that particular culture, _my _culture, is wiped from existence. He refuses the idea of peace. He lost his father and grandfather in the wars to Xandarian warriors."

"Hm. But how many other people's fathers and grandfathers has he killed since?"

"I'm not framing it as a justification, simply as a motive."

"Huh. Well, thanks for explaining; I'm really not up to speed on all this stuff at all. I'm still trying to process the fact that this prison is floating in space."

"Hey, short stuff!" Quill was beginning to sound peeved. "Come on."

"All right, Jeez!" Ellie grumbled, finally allowing Quill to pull her out of the showers.

"Ronan's allies murdered my sister."

Ellie looked back at the inmate; he was still leaning against the wall, as still as if he were cast from stone. She wasn't sure if he meant to tell her that, or if he was just trying to justify to her why he had dragged Gamora from her cell and tried to shank her. Ellie could only notice that there was a real angry sorrow in his eyes, identical to the pain in Drax's entire being. She wondered how many others in the galaxy endured same torment because of one fanatic.

"I'm so sorry." She couldn't think of anything else to say, but it seemed suitable.

Something cold and hard settled in the pit of her stomach, and Ellie didn't think it was the prison food taking its revenge. _If this were a film, it would be easy to feel separate from all this; because it's not real. But it is real. This stuff Ronan is doing is really happening. _She felt her stomach drop an inch or two._ It's a good thing space is so huge; I don't particularly want to run into him._

* * *

"That was stupid." Said Gamora.

"You're welcome."

Quill had only stopped dragging her when they had reached the upper floors once again; mercifully far away from the showers. He now relinquished his grip on her, allowing Ellie to rub her arm and sulk.

"Didn't think you had it in you, kid." Quill was shaking his head. "Stepping between a murderous Destroyer and his age old beef; crazy, but that takes a special kind of courage."

"Or a special kind of insanity," mumbled Ellie. She looked down at her hands and wasn't surprised to see them shaking.

Quill grinned. "My kind of insanity."

"All the same," Rocket said, glaring up at Ellie, "Don't do that again."

Ellie felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and then she smirked. "Concerned about me, Mr Rocket?"

Rocket scoffed. "Just don't fancy mopping you off my jumpsuit, Blondie, that's all." He said, but he winked up at her.

"Simple." Quill was saying to Gamora, sounding pleased. "You know where to sell my orb."

Hand on hip, Gamora exhaled impatiently. "How are we going to sell it when we and it are still here?"

"Hey, Rocket?" Ellie said. "You've escaped 22 prisons: surely this one's no biggie to you, right?"

"Oh, we're getting out." Rocket smirked in a self-satisfied kind of way. "And then we're going straight to Yondo to collect your bounty." He told Quill.

"How much is your buyer offering for the orb?" Quill asked Gamora, raising his eyebrows.

"4 billion units."

"_What_?" Rocket's eyes bugged out, currency signs practically dancing in his eyes.

"'_Kerchiiing!' _I take it?" Ellie asked, looking at Gamora.

"The orb and that money are my chance to get away from Ronan and Thanos." Said Gamora, her arms crossed. After a moment of thought, she looked up, scrutinising them all, before seeming to come to a decision. "If you help me escape, I'll lead you to the buyer and split the profit between the four of us."

"I am Groot."

"Five of us." Rocket rolled his eyes at the now awake Groot. "Asleep for the danger and awake for the money as per freaking usual."

Suddenly very aware of her uselessness, Ellie cleared her throat.

"Uh, listen. I don't mind not getting a share; you guys split it between the four of you; a billion each. Just take me with you when you escape, and that'll be enough for me." _I doubt whatever these units are can be used back home anyway. It's not like I can convert them into sterling._

"All the more for me." Quill clapped his hands together. "That arrangement suits me just fine."

"You're not going to leave me here right?" Ellie muttered down to Rocket.

Rocket looked up at her in a calculating way for a moment. "Those guts you showed just now might come in handy when we're escaping." He said thoughtfully. "Plus, Groot here would never forgive me if I did."

Groot gave a rumble of agreement, his brown eyes kind as he smiled down at Ellie. She grinned, folding one small hand around one of his branch fingers, giving it an appreciative squeeze.


	6. The Great Escape

Mirroring in an unsettling way the lunch hall back in Ellie's old school, the communal area was once again filled with inmates, all clutching trays in a big lines waiting for today's delectable samples of Nova's finest. The steady rumble of voices rose like a chorus of insects, yellow suited individuals shuffled around, trying to draw as little attention to themselves as possible; after all, it had become painfully evident last night that the prison they were currently crashing in was unbelievably corrupt. Above the inmates, swiftly cutting through the air with electronic whizzes like insects flew guard robots: search lights scanning, weaponry at the ready, they continually skimmed for signs of trouble. Unfortunately, as Ellie knew, trouble was number one on the agenda today.

She stood in line behind Gamora, a tray of food made from several containers resting in her hands. Looking down, Ellie's nose wrinkled in disgust. Alongside a substance which resembled lumpy grey glue was a small pile of vegetables, what could have been a slice of bread and a single cup of water; the finest space rations the Nova Corps could provide.

"Do you think they have a hot chocolate machine?"

Gamora didn't turn around, evidently deciding that Rocket's plan held priority over Ellie's culinary desires.

"If we're gonna get outta here, we're gonna need to get into that watch tower, and to do that I'm gonna need a few things." Rocket swivelled round, looking to the upper catwalks. "The guards wear security bands to control their ins and outs. I need one."

They all looked in the direction of Rocket's eyeline. Ellie watched as one of the guards on a higher level activated a button on his arm, causing a door to slide open, allowing prisoners to pass through.

"Leave it to me." Gamora said, her mouth set in a determined line.

"That's especially important. I want at least two of you on that."

Quill shrugged. "Fine, I'll help."

"That dude there." Rocket continued. "I need his prosthetic leg."

"His leg?" Ellie said incredulously, spotting the individual in question limping across the communal area.

"Yeah. God knows I don't need the rest of him. Look at him. He's useless."

"How on earth am I supposed to get it?"

"It could be that he likes blondes: you could probably work something out."

Ellie set her tray down onto one of the tables with a little more force than she intended. "Heck, no! I'll figure something out."

Rocket nodded. "And finally, on the wall back there is a black panel. Blinky yellow light. You see it?"

"Yeah."

"There's a quarnex battery behind it. Purplish box. Green wires. To get into that watch tower, I definitely need it."

Ellie craned her neck, finding the box on the wall behind. Its blinking light seemed to wink at her, daring her to try and get it down from its twenty foot height; _crud. How on earth are we-_

"How are we supposed to do that?" Gamora said irritably, clearly also noticing the slight issue.

"Well, supposedly, these bald bodies find you attractive, so maybe you could work out some sort of trade."

"I share Ellie's sentiments on the matter."

"That's right. Do we look like hunks of meat to be thrown to the lions to you?"

"Look." Quill said quickly before a battle of the sexes began. "It's 20 feet up in the air and it's in the middle of the most heavily guarded part of the prison. It's impossible to get up there without being seen."

"I got one plan," Rocket hissed, clearly maddened, "and that plan requires this frickin' quarnex battery, _so figure it out_!"

A clang echoed across the lunch area, but Ellie paid no attention to it. Rocket exhaled impatiently.

"Can I get back to it?" He said. "Thanks. Now, this is important. Once the battery is removed, everything is gonna slam into emergency mode. Once we have it, we gotta move quickly, so you definitely need to get that last."

As though on cue (_this is a movie,_ Ellie later thought,_ so I suppose it was on cue_), and with a sudden electric drone, all the lights in the prison went out. Plunged into darkness for a split second, Ellie's breath caught in her chest, adrenaline beginning to pump through her veins. Then, a red hue of light lit up the communal area. A horrible screeching siren began to sound over and over, red lights flashing in alarm through the gloom. _What the-? _

She turned around in her seat. Standing there, in full view of everyone, was Groot. He held out the little battery, twine like fingers curling around it, and gave a small innocent smile. _He's pleased as punch_.

"Or we could just get it first and improvise." Called an exasperated Rocket.

"We'll get the armband." Gamora said.

"Leg." Ellie chimed in. _Let the 'Great Escape' commence._

Not pausing to think and still clutching her lunch tray (though emptying the contents onto the floor as she moved) Ellie pushed herself away from the table, dashing towards a ladder which led to the higher levels. _I'm certain robot leg man went that way. Probably not via the ladder though. _The robots which had previously hovered harmlessly above their heads had sprung into action, circling like vicious birds of prey, weapons cocked. Reaching the ladder, Ellie looked back. As prisoners began to run for cover, their yellow suits melting away into the gloom, she watched as the robots began to hover around Groot; Rocket was racing towards him.

"_All prisoners return to your sleeping areas_!" Came a voice over the intercom, blooming out as the robots punctuated his threat. "_Or we will open fire!"_

"Well, dash it all." Ellie muttered, beginning to scale the ladder, her dinner tray hooked under one arm.

Below, the sound of gunfire had begun to rumble. Climbing with one hand proved difficult, but the looming threat of being shot reduced any other concern to almost nothing. Reaching the top of the ladder, Ellie ducked as a handful of human guards clutching guns hurried past on the walkway above. As they marched around the corner and out of sight she pulled herself up, clambering far too noisily onto the walkway, and began to check the cells.

_I don't think I've got it in me to be bad-ass for much longer. _She thought desperately as she scanned cell after cell._ Come on, Long John Silver, where are you?_

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Ellie to find the person in question. Ellie poked her head into the penultimate cell on the middle level, and there he was. He was sitting on his bed, his prosthetic leg stretched out idly in front of him, clearly content that he was far away enough from the fray. At her entrance he looked up at her, his brow creasing. _Well, it's not like I've ever been one to beat about the bush…_

"Hey pal!" Ellie plastered a grin across her face, twirling her dinner tray between her hands lazily. "Sorry to bother you, but could I speak to you for a moment? I never thought I'd ever be saying this to anyone, but I kind of need your leg."

"You need my _what_?"

"Your leg. That is, your prosthetic one. The other one; that's _all yours _man."

He blinked for a moment, looking bewildered. Then his scowl returned. "You'd better have a whole lot of credits hidden in those blonde curls, otherwise you can forget it."

"Uh…I don't have any credits."

He gave a snort of derision, gesturing at the cell entrance. "Get stuffed." He snarled as he turned his face away to the cell wall.

_Well, that's not very nice. Now what?_

Quietly, deftly, she moved in behind him; the tray was still tightly clutched in her hands. Ellie breathed as quietly as she could, trying to not think about what she now had to do. Raising it high above her head and moving quickly before she could chicken out, she brought the collection of containers that was her tray down on top of his head. She grimaced as she felt him go limp, crumpling to the floor of his cell.

"Dear God, I'm so sorry."

With shaking hands she fumbled about at the stump of the man's leg, unscrewing any mechanical part that could be unscrewed, before with a _click! _it popped out. _Rocket, this thing had better be damn useful, I kid you not._

Eager to leave behind the one legged man's unconscious form, Ellie quickly crossed the walkway to the ladder once again, skimming down it fast, instantly crouching under one of the tables the moment she reached the floor. Good thing too. Bullets were flying everywhere, from the guards sure, but mostly from Rocket who was astride Groot's shoulder, firing and yelling with poorly disguised glee.

From across the communal area, Ellie watched Gamora throw something to Rocket _must be the arm band thingie_ who dropped the gun to catch it, and Groot began to stomp towards the launch tower. Gamora leapt an inhumanly long way from the higher levels to the watchtower, while Groot began to curl his vines upwards, creating a treelike stairwell. Rocket clambered up them, closely followed by Quill. _I'd better follow suite. _

Shimmying out from under the table, Ellie darted as fast as she dared towards the watchtower, clutching the leg in both hands. Then, as she was almost at the feet of Groot's vine ladder, she saw it.

It hovered closer, lights flashing and its guns glinting: Quill hadn't spotted it.

"That robot's going to get him! _Quill_!"

Quill heard her yell as he craned around, spotting the robot. For an endless moment, he stared at it and its guns.

Then, the robot was gone. An inmate had leapt from a higher level, grabbing the robot out of the air as he fell, allowing its guns to only target the floor in his grasp. Between his hands, he crushed its metal circuits, caving in its structure before finally, with an ear-splitting war cry he wrenched it to pieces. With a start, Ellie recognised the grey skin, elaborate red tattoos and bulky physique.

"Nice save, big guy!" Ellie called to him, relieved. Drax turned to look at her and to her great surprise, he nodded ever so slightly to her before craning his neck up to Quill.

"You! Man who has laid with a Laskavarian!" He called.

"It was one time, man!" Ellie heard Quill whine.

Ellie rolled her eyes, heaving a long suffering sigh, but began to climb, shoving the leg over her shoulder. Not having been an avid fan of physical education while at school, or of exercise in general, she was surprised to find that pulling herself up via the 'Groot extension' was to be accomplished with ease. Hooking her hands carefully around the vines, taking care each time to attain proper foot placement, Ellie scaled her way up to the watchtower, hearing Drax follow on behind.

_Just don't look down. Don't look down and don't fall onto one of those robot thingies._

Finally the tips of her fingers struck metal: the walkway which led to the entrance of the watchtower. Pulling herself up, followed closely by Drax, she found herself at Groot's side. They were all here. Looking down at her, Groot gave her an encouraging grin, and she responded with a thumbs up.

Then, at a touch of Rocket's paw, the door to the watchtower slammed open. The guard looked at them all stood in the entrance, his hands raised in surrender, his face pallid and moist. _I've had people look incredulous at me before, but no one's ever looked at me in terror._ Ellie was certain she didn't like it, but looking around at her companions, she couldn't help but wonder if this moment was one of the movie's promotional images. _Aaaaand strike a pose! _

Reaching out with a vine, Groot flung the guard from the watchtower and they all clambered in as the door hissed shut with a clunk behind them; Rocket instantly busied himself swiftly with the towers control panels with rapid moves of technological genius.

Waiting beside Groot's elbow, Ellie caught Gamora's reaction to Drax's presence from the best seat in the house.

"Spare me your foul gaze, woman!" Growled Drax.

Gamora looked to Quill, turning an accusing finger on Drax. "Why is this one here?"

"I promised him he could stay by your side until he kills your boss." Quill shrugged. "And I always keep my promises; especially when they're to muscle bound wackjobs who'll kill me if I don't."

Ellie snorted. "Noble. Here you go, Rocket." She said, banging the leg against the control panel.

"Oh, I was just kidding about the leg; I just needed these two things."

"_What_?" Ellie's jaw may as well have struck the floor.

"I thought it'd be funny." Rocket was sniggering, struggling to find words. "Was it funny? What did he look like, hopping around?"

"I had to knock him out!" Ellie brought her hand up to rub her eyes, disbelieving and yet at the same time completely unsurprised. This was Rocket after all. "Damn, to think I felt useful for a second!"

Suddenly, a loud pattering sounded through the watchtower, along with the flashes and sparks of friction. Looking to the window, Ellie saw the undeniable ricocheting bodies of bullets. _Are we really not past the warning stage here? Not that I'm complaining._

"How are we going to leave?" Drax asked, eyeing the glass around them, clearly wondering if it was going to hold.

"He's got a plan, right?" Quill said. "Or is that something else you made up?"

"He said he's got a plan!" Ellie hissed.

"I have a plan!"

"Cease your yammering and relieve us from this irksome confinement." Drax said.

"I'm going to have to agree with the walking Thesaurus on that one." Quill affirmed, glancing outside.

"Do not ever call me a Thesaurus."

Quill looked as taken aback as he had been the night before, with the whole 'finger on throat' incident. "Dude, it's just a metaphor." He appealed.

His paws darting about the control pad, lights flashing about on it as he prepared his apparently infallible plan, Rocket tutted at Quill. "His people are completely literal. Metaphors are gonna go right over his head."

"Nothing goes over my head." Drax mused. "My reflexes are too fast. I will catch it."

"I'm going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the galaxy." Gamora said, sounding dazed in her disbelief.

"I say!" Ellie said. "I resent that remark even if _they_ don't."

Down in what had earlier been the peaceful lunch area, humanoid prison guards were assembling, arranging formations, loading weapons with militant regularity. Then entered the second wave. Crouching down, these men had astride their shoulders lethal looking guns. Far more giant and deadly looking than their predecessors, they had them loaded and ready to fire; fire at the watchtower that is.

Their situation complete, Ellie couldn't help tittering nervously. "Wow, those guns are enormous! I'm starting to think that these guys don't like us very much."

"_On my command. Number One!"_

There was an explosion and a blinding flash from one of the guns as what resembled a missile was launched straight at one of the the watchtower windows. Ellie's hands shot to her face at the impact. Black smoke and fire curled upwards and around the watchtower, the walls and floor shuddering, an unnerving creaking started up at its base. Cracks spread themselves like tendrils of spider web across the glass, but thankfully the window didn't shatter; _a few more of those, though, and they'll be serving us up as extra crispy!_

Alarmed and not taking her eyes from the window, Gamora barked at Rocket. "Rodent, we are ready for your plan!"

"Hold on!"

"_Number Two!" _Another missile. More vicious cracks in the glasswork, spiralling dangerously.

_ "_I recognise this animal!" Drax sounded uncharacteristically gleeful. "We roasted him over the flame pit as children! The flesh was quite delicious."

"Not helping!" Rocket snarled.

"_Number Three!" _The third blast seemed to resonate much more than the first tiniest fragment of glass fell from the window of the structure quietly; a small chink in the armour, but a chink was all that was necessary.

_ "All fire on my command!" That's it. We're dead. Mum, Dad, I'm sorry I was such an idiot all the way to the end. "Three, two, one…"_

Ellie jammed her arms over her head, squeezing her eyes shut, waiting for the final blow which would strike them to kingdom come; or at least into the cruel vacuum of space. The silence dragged on. After a few seconds, Ellie dared to peek under her eyelids.

They were floating. Weapons, bodies and food trays alike outside of the watchtower were floating upwards. The guards flailed helplessly against the inevitability of their slow progress to the ceiling, their weapons far beyond the reach of their straining fingers.

Ellie knew she must look a sight, her mouth hanging open and her eyes popping, but she didn't care. _They're…flying? Well, at least when they're doing that, they're not shooting._

"You've turned off the artificial gravity everywhere but in here." Gamora's voice had an unfamiliar tint of wonder to it. A tint Ellie found contagious.

"Rocket, of the cuddly talking racoons that I have met, you are the most awesome."

* * *

**I've figured out how to add notes! :P**

**Hey all, this is my first fanfiction ever - I hope you like it! ^_^ Please let me know if you enjoyed it; feedback is much appreciated!**

\- Sarah


	7. Walkman goes Walkabout

"Wow. You really did actually have a plan." Ellie wasn't surprised at how breathless she sounded; nerves frazzled, she sighed with relief as the watchtower finally met with concluding resistance, ending their not so comfortable journey.

The finer points of Rocket's plan had included the following: the detaching of the stubborn watchtower, followed by several of the prison robots controlled and attached to the watchtower, propelling it downwards and through a security gate. Simple. _It sounds a breeze when you think of it that way. _

The watchtower had sped down through the centre of the prison, rocketing its way through a heavy security gate and towards the loading dock, skidding dangerously against the walls and smashing into transports and unfortunate prison guards alike. Clinging on for dear life, Ellie had uttered any prayer she could remember accompanied by an occasional chorus of the worst words she could think of; her nails had dug into the control panel, not daring to shift lest a sudden jerk send her flying through the already delicate panes of glass and into the oblivion that was the deep belly of the Kiln. _When I get home, I am _so _suing the director of this movie for my permanently jangled nerves!_

Now they were here, wherever here was. _Mercifully far from those men and their guns; that's all I care about._

"That was a pretty good plan." Said Quill, sounding uncharacteristically impressed with someone other than himself. Rocket grinned, revelling in the praise.

One swift boot to the window later, they all clambered out of their 'irksome confinement,' and into something that, in Ellie's humble opinion, didn't constitute as much of an improvement. In the dank, grey space numerous crates lined the walls, and Ellie recognised it as the place where all the prisoners' personal effects were stored on their arrival. The others immediately started about pulling the crates from the walls; Drax flung open one crate with a bang while Groot pulled Rocket's effects from high above all their heads.

_God, it stinks like a rugby team's changing room in here! Ugh. _

"Yeah, there it is! Get my ship!" Quill was gesturing madly against the glass of the window, and in peering out Ellie could see all manner of ships lined up in what looked like the biggest garage in the galaxy. _Wonder how much the valet service costs?_ "It's the orange and blue one over in the corner!"

"Yours." Ellie turned at Gamora's voice, eyebrows raised as Gamora gestured at one of the crates in the wall. Pulling the crate out and lifting it onto one of the tables, Ellie prised open the lid. There, folded neatly, was her jeans, trainers, T shirt and – _Hallelujah!_ \- her jacket; comfortable and familiar looking, it was a most welcome sight.

"Beloved jacket; how I've missed you!"

Rocket's indignant voice rang out from the other side of the room. "They crumpled my pants up into a ball, that's rude! They folded yours!"

Pulling her trainers onto her feet and her jacket around her shoulders over her banana suit, Ellie grinned at the unexpected comfort it brought. Its fitted seams, woolly interior and familiar smell all brought relief and a sense of security; in that moment, thoughts of home began to flood her mind. A single moment of tranquillity and quiet in an otherwise crazy and weary world. Closing her eyes, she tried to summon back everything she could remember about home. The softness of her bed, the lavender smell of her bedclothes, and the bitter intrusive scent of coffee granules as her housemate made her morning latte. Normal, boring, wonderful things.

Ellie felt a lump rise in her throat.

"The orb is there. Let's go." Gamora was saying.

"Wait." Quill's voice had a sudden tone of urgency to it. "Wait, wait, wait."

"What?"

Ellie turned, pulling herself from her reverie. Quill was rooting around madly in one of the containers. There were his clothes, his backpack containing – _hopefully! _– the orb; everything he needed. _Or so I thought. _

"That bastard didn't put it back!" Quill hissed, pulling all his effects from the box.

"Put what back?"

"Here." Quill shoved his backpack into Gamora's arms. "Get them to the ship; I'll be right back."

Gamora's eyes were wide with disbelief. "How are you going to possibly-?"

"Just keep the ship close by. Go!" Without another word he vanished through the door and back into the network of corridors; back into the Coliseum, where Ellie was certain there would be no lack of lions. They all stared after him.

Rocket broke the silence. "Stupid humie."

"Dear God, the man is a moron."

Staring at the space behind the open door, Ellie wondered what the others could see. _All I can see right now is my last link to earth vanishing. Vanishing to probably get shot in the head. _Making a split second decision, Ellie tucked her clothes under one arm, implemented a stiff upper lip and dashed from the room after the retreating Star Lord.

Gamora started at Ellie's sudden movement towards the door, her incredulous expression still in place. "Ellie, what are you-?"

"Blondie!" Ellie heard Rocket's frustrated exclamation but didn't turn around.

"Quill, stop!"

By the time she had caught up with Quill his yellow jumpsuit was long gone, there instead was the iconic ravagers gear; the sharp 'ready for action' look had returned along with the leather coat, trousers, boots and the conceited smirk.

"Go to the ship, kid!" Quill said as he touched his earpiece. As his touch the earpiece activated his mask, which curved around his face instantly. "You're crazy!"

Ellie spluttered indignantly. "_I'm_ crazy? We've got the orb and your ship is safe and sound; we're almost home free! What could be so important-?"

The clanking sound of heavy footsteps cut Ellie short in her rant, much to her displeasure. They came running into the corridor; three intimidating men clad in the Nova Corps getup. Ellie instinctively stepped behind Quill. They were armed to the teeth (some literally) with guns and the very scary looking electric shock inducing batons. Each face she could see was set in determination, and it was only a matter of moments before they raised their weapons and let out cries of varying degrees of rage, starting swiftly towards them. Ellie looked up at Quill, shifting her jeans and T shirt under her arm.

"All yours buddy."

A series of electric blasts later, two of the three men were incapacitated on the floor, writhing for a moment before stilling. Another guard standing raised his baton, but Quill was faster. One swift punch to the face, and deflecting the blast from the guard's gun into another approaching guard, Quill brought him down to the ground. With a primal battle cry, another baton wielding guard came charging around the corner. With a movement so simple it was almost comical, Quill raised his gun, cocked it and effortlessly shot the man to the floor.

_Well. Perhaps Star Prince has his uses after all._

"Ow, my neck!" The guard cried, clutching at it. Quill silenced him swiftly with another charge from his handy weapon. Ellie blanched.

"And that's the cherry on top I suppose?" She asked, eyeing Quill's weapon warily. "Great. I'd ask you to remind me to never piss you off, but I don't see much point in that."

"People who piss me off never wind up well. You should have seen this kree dude…a reminder might be worth your time. Especially in your case, kid; it must be because we're the same species, but you really know how to push my buttons. Are all us humans genetically predisposed to be irritating? It would explain the outcome of a lot of my previous encounters…"

"What can I say? I get under people's skin; it's a special talent of mine."

Ellie was surprised when the strode passed a window, amazed to see the expanse of space and its stars beyond it; when you're as grounded as the average human being unfortunately is, seeing the stars _below _your person is nothing short of sublime. Glancing out of it before hurrying to catch up with Quill again, an image of Quill's butterfly like ship (_I wouldn't tell him that's what it looks like for the world. Well, I'll save it for parties_) hanging in that vacuum sprang to mind. How long would it wait? How long would _they_ wait? With the orb safely on the ship, the phrase 'cash in hand' came to mind. Or rather, 'cash in their hands.'

_They wouldn't leave without us, right?_

""They wouldn't leave without us." Ellie voiced her thoughts out loud, for her own benefit. She hoped she didn't sound like she was trying to convince herself.

Quill looked down at her; Ellie was certain that if his mask wasn't hiding his face, she would see a scheming glint in his eyes accompanied by a mischievous grin. "You're damn right they wouldn't; cause I've got _this_!"

Reaching into his coat and into one of the many pockets, he pulled out a certain extremely important orb, tossing it in the air as he turned and continued down the corridor.

"You nicked the orb?"

"If they had it, they'd be on the other side of the quadrant by now. That's Timbuctoo to you."

_ Well, I don't know what to say to that. _Ellie certainly wasn't fool enough to paint the Guardians (_well, I suppose they're technically not the guardians. Not _yet_ anyway_) as the most selfless and generous collection of human/tree humanoid/talking racoon/whatever Drax and Gamora are. All the same, the thought of them fleeing to the stars without a care in the world while she remained incarcerated forever formed an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't trust herself to come up with a sharp enough retort.

Wrapped up in her own thoughts she bumped straight into something; it was like walking into a wall. Looking up, she could see that Quill had stopped dead. They had reached the end of the corridor, arriving at some sort of control room; Quill paused at the entrance, and Ellie watched his shoulders stiffen.

"Quill?" She whispered, but received no response.

In a flash of fast action, so fast she could barely tell what was happening, Quill strode into the room and laid waste to whoever was inside. With the butt of his gun he struck a man at a control panel on his head, knocking him out instantly. Straight away Quill started rummaging around the man, his hands a blur as he searched, before bringing forth the fruit of his labours; Ellie felt her jaw drop.

"The _Walkman_?" She said incredulously. Reflexively, she rolled her eyes. "Just so you know Quill, I actually feel quite put out by this."

Quill sniggered, in noticeably better spirits now that his Walkman was strapped back to his belt. "Your blunder, your problem. You didn't have to follow me, kid."

Ellie was about to let loose a stream of the rudest words she could think of when she heard a rumbling; the rumbling of many pairs of manly feet. They both turned to the entrance to see several armed guards heading towards them, looking as determined as the last wave, but no more challenging.

"Hold this!" Quill said, tossing the orb at Ellie.

Raising the hand not burdened by her jeans and T shirt, Ellie caught the orb as Quill departed through the door for war. Despite its spell in Quill's jacket and the heat of his hands, its metal was cold, its surface bumpy with the ridges of its patterns; now that she was holding it, Ellie could understand even less all the fuss that was being made over it. This was worth 4 Billion? _Not as much as Bill Gates is worth, but still…_

Then she felt it.

Quill struck one of the guards in the face, making him go limp and his lights flicker out.

_What the-? _Frowning and ignoring the ruckus outside of the room, Ellie slowly brought the orb up to her ear, clenching it tightly in one fist. There it was! _Good Lord._ Not only did the feeling pulse through her hand, it was accompanied by a metallic sort of keening, like one long exclamation or a sigh; the lifeless material, or at least what it contained, seemed at thing alive. _This is no ordinary hunk of junk!_

"Gotcha!" A hand closed around Ellie's upper arm. Jerking violently in surprise and gasping, Ellie turned to find herself staring into a pair of yellow eyes and a triumphant grin. "Where do you think you're going, gorgeous?"

Being the celebrated mistress of a clear mind, Ellie naturally took the course of action that made the most sense.

"_Ahhhhh!"_

"Kid!" Quill's voice sounded from the other side of the door.

Everything slowed down after that. The orb suddenly pulsed in her hand, almost as though she were holding a beating heart in her hand. The metal was suddenly hot. A mist descended in her mind.

Dropping her clothes and using the side of her hand and putting as much power behind the hit as she could, she connected her free hand under his chin and into the flesh of his neck, using not just her arms, but her legs and hips to provide more strength; somehow Ellie knew she had to be sure to follow through. Spreading her legs about shoulder width apart, she struck him there again with all her might. He swayed slightly, looking at her in a slightly unfocussed way, releasing his hold as he stumbled. Taking one uncertain step forwards, he began to raise his arms; they were level with Ellie's throat. She brought the orb down on his head. He crumpled straight away.

"Sorry, gorgeous." Ellie couldn't help adding.

"Kid." Quill sounded strangely thoughtful, the unconscious forms of the rest of the guards at his feet. "You got some serious skills. What was that?"

_Jesus. _Ellie's mind became clear again. _Dear God, I just…hurt someone. Really badly. God, is he dead? _ The way the man's body had fallen, spread eagled, didn't look natural; limbs bent in odd directions, his eyes rolled back. Back home, she had never hit anyone. The odd poke when someone annoyed her, but that was about it. _First Long John Silver man, now him._

_ More to the point, how did I do that? It's like I just stopped thinking and my body moved by itself._

But somehow, it all rang familiar. Had she not moved in a similar way before, very recently? She racked her brains for a moment, but only a moment: it was so evident it was practically staring her in the face. _On Xandar, the first day, when they were all fighting over the orb._ She had reached out and snatched at Gamora's swift flying knife before it had hit Quill's hand, plucking it from the air as easily as if she were plucking an apple from a tree; a stationary, easy to reach apple. _What kind of reflexes are those? I can't even hit the shuttle cock in badminton!_

_Something's off here._

"I put it down to adrenaline. That and a two left feet complex. Compensation, you know…"

From behind his mask, Quill scrutinised her silently for a moment. Then, apparently deciding that escaping was more important than Ellie's newfound skills, Quill dropped the subject; Ellie breathed a sigh of relief. _Freak out about it later. _She passed the orb back into Quill's open hand, suddenly extremely glad to be rid of it, scooping her clothes up off the floor.

"Put this on." Quill tossed something in Ellie's direction. "We're going out."

Ellie looked down at what he had flung. It was some sort of earpiece, like a hearing aid or like the kind business men back on earth wore to speak to the people they were leeching money out of. But, as Ellie knew, this particular one was much cooler. This particular one would activate a pretty cool looking mask around her face. It's not every day you encounter ground breaking technology, _well, ground-breaking by earth's standards. _

Then the meaning of Quill's words caught up to her.

"Out?" Ellie said as she hooked the device behind her ear. "As in, just us? Without a ship? Into _space_? No way man!"

"Feel free to stay. It would probably give my sanity a chance at reforming."

"Well, wouldn't want that to reform, would we?" Ellie grumbled.

Feeling around behind her ear, Ellie found a button, activating the mask around her face. She started in surprise at the strange tunnelling of her vision as the mask crept around, turning her vision red; she could feel the metal now against her skin, and could breathe just fine. _I hope these work in space._

Then, abruptly and without warning, a pair of arms wrapped their way around her shoulders and her middle, large and strong, pinning her clothes to her chest and pinning her against a body. She stopped breathing. For a moment she thought the guards had returned and got ready to scream bloody murder, but then she recognised the ravager sleeves, shirt and gloves. Sure enough, she craned her neck around and was met with the glowing red eyes of Quill's mask.

"Whoa. What are you doing?"

"I'm planning on propelling myself to the ship with my handy pair of rocket boots here attached to my feet. Poor ol' Terra don't stock that kind of stuff in ASDA, so I'm gonna assume you need assistance."

"What, you mean you've not got a spare pair in size seven?"

Behind and above her, Quill said nothing. _He's probably not used to Terran sass coming from anyone but himself._

"Ugh, fine!" She groaned, turning to face forwards. "Floating back to earth does not sound like an efficient way to get home. But you'd better not let go."

"Don't tempt me."

"Shut up, or I'll fidget around so we get propelled right into the nearest star."

Quill muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'wackjob' before tightening his hold and activating his boots. Before Ellie had even thought to ask if the power of the boots would support both of them, they were hovering off the ground and into what resembled an airlock. Beyond it, glittering through a large window, was space. Huge, beautiful and terrifying. Ellie gripped Quill's arms in a death grip.

Quill nudged a button with his elbow, and the airlock snapped open. For an endless moment they were spinning without control, taken in by the vacuum of space, sucked from the spaceship into endless spinning stars and planets. Ellie couldn't help but squeeze her eyes shut against the spinning. _If I can't see it, I can pretend I'm not in space. I'm back home in bed, just about to get up and make some Saturday hot chocolate. Yep, totally ordinary._ Ellie couldn't tell if they were still spinning or not; there was no up, no down, no anything. With a terrified young woman clasped to his chest, would Quill be able to regain control at all? Gripping Quill even tighter (if that was possible) Ellie wouldn't be surprised if he had permanent dents in his arms from where she had been holding them.

She peeked through her eyelashes.

They were rounding the corner of the Kiln with incredible speed. There it was dead ahead, hovering, waiting; perhaps not patiently, but waiting none the less. Quill's ship gleamed pleasantly in the light of the stars and the Kiln, looking far more welcoming than the dingy prison they were now (hopefully) leaving behind. Quill sped towards the ship with an accomplished grace; completely in control, he was one who had great confidence in his plans. _Oh, me of little faith. _

Quill brought them up to another airlock; being on his ship this one had to be his personal favourite. Finally letting go of Quill's jacket as the lock slammed tightly shut, Ellie found her fingers were stiff and sore, and she winced and she wiggled them. Then the hatch above them hissed open, and several pairs of hands reached down to her. Gamora and Drax pulled her up and into the ship easily. Ellie beamed gratefully at them both, and then remembered the mask that was concealing her face, rendering it pointless. In her relief to be safe again (somewhat) and no longer in the clutches of boundless space, she sat down on the floor where she stood, throwing down her jeans and T shirt, feeling completely wiped out.

"You shall make keen allies in the battle against Ronan!" Drax was saying, reaching down to Quill, sounding strangely gleeful as he did so. As Quill planted his feet on his ship floor, he deactivated his mask, looking as though he had just run a marathon.

Drax turned to Quill, fixing him in his gaze." Companion, what were you retrieving?"

Slapping his Walkman into Drax's outstretched hand, Quill marched off to the control room of the ship without another word. Drax looked down at the contraption as he turned it over in his hands, his brow furrowing as the glee fled from his features; he then stared in the direction Quill had gone, an incredulous sort of shock on his face.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're absolutely right." Deactivating her mask, Ellie grinned wearily at Drax. "He's an imbecile."

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**Thank you very much for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**

\- Sarah


	8. Noughts and Crosses Anyone?

**Here is the next part - I hope you like it! Please review!**

**Sarah :)**

* * *

The graceful figure of Quill's ship cut through the magnificent green and red of deep space, forging onwards past the countless stars and planets of the galaxy. Possibly hundreds of light years in diameter glittered many nebulas in the distance, winking away in their reds and blues. The sight was beautiful; this gravitationally bound system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter was one which not many humans could claim to have seen.

Ellie couldn't believe that she was actually bored.

After poking some screen for what could have been hours and discovering to her dismay that she was unable to access YouTube, Ellie turned her bleary eyes from it, scoping out the room for what felt like the millionth time.

Drax stood the furthest from her, leaning casually against the furthermost ship wall with his arms crossed over his massive chest; he was staring at nothing in particular, his eyes far away across the stars. His furrowed brow and glazed look told Ellie that now probably wasn't the best time to ask if he fancied a game of the good old fashioned noughts and crosses to pass the time. Gamora looked even less open to the option, twirling the orb carefully between her hands to Ellie's left with her eyes closed, and Groot was snoozing, branched out across the blinking lights of the grey wall behind him.

_Only one option remaining._

"Hey Rocket. Watcha doin' mon amigo?"

Rocket answered without looking up. "Preparing."

And preparing he was. Surrounding his perch were all manner of solitary components, bolts, tools and wires of all colours; an engineer's dream. Next to him a hatch in the ground was open, displaying the inner workings and underbelly of the ship, all unnamed components and a mess of wires. This was his treasure trove, as Ellie discovered when he disconnected something from inside it, attaching it to yet another…thing. Snapping a blue wire off the thingy he held in his paw, he allowed it to flutter to the ground next to the box he was seated on. Ellie wondered what he was making.

"Oh right. So you do reckon that ol' Ronan is going to find us? But how? I mean, this is freakin' _space_ right? It's massive isn't it?"

"That maniac has eyes and ears everywhere. We just need to keep moving, get that bloody orb as far away from us as possible and then get the hell out of dodge. And a couple of billion richer too."

"And then drop me off on earth." _Back to normality. No Kree maniacs there, no sir._

Rocket snorted. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Whoa, yo! Ranger Rick! What are you doing?" Quill suddenly sped into the room, his arms raised in exasperation. "You can't just take apart my ship without asking me!"

Rocket paid no attention, his mind in 'la la electronic genius' land.

"What is this?" Quill reached towards the nonsensical collection of wires and gadgets at Rocket's feet.

"Don't touch that." Rocket said abruptly. Quill's hand snapped back in spite of itself. "It's a bomb."

"A bomb?"

"Yep." Ellie, subconsciously or otherwise, retreated into a corner.

"And you leave it lying around?" Quill was hoarse with incredulity.

"I was gonna put it in a box."

"What's a box gonna do!?"

"I'm with Star King on that one!" Ellie called from the corner.

"How 'bout this one?" Rocket reached under one of the control panels near him and, hooking his little fingers around its edge, pulled a black box from beneath it. Ellie peered inside. There was a collection of papers, some folders (_Quill actually organises stuff into folders?!_) unidentified gadgets and, interestingly, a small colourful package; it was wrapped like a child's birthday present, and could have easily contained a toy or chocolate. It didn't seem to belong.

"Whoa, no, hey!" With a flick of his foot, Quill shoved the box back into the set of drawers. "Leave it alone!"

"I was-"

"Shut up!"

"Hey!" Rocket actually sounded offended for a change, sharp words usually passed over him like a stream on its pebbles; that was something Ellie didn't like to hear. Her brow furrowed as she turned on Quill, ready to send him to the ninth circle of hell, but then she stopped. Something had been in his eyes, something which had quickly fled but had been there all the same. In his eyes there had been a very real hurt. An echo of a fear from the past.

_Hm. Perhaps it would be best to not talk about the colourful package again._

"What is that?" Quill gestured downwards at another gizmo of Rocket's.

"That's for if things get really hard-core." Rocket smirked. "Or if you want to blow up moons."

"No one is blowing up moons." Gamora called from the other side of the room.

Lowering his head, Rocket muttered "You just want to suck the joy out of everything." Dispiritedly, and continued to fiddle with his gadget.

"You'd get joy out of blowing up moons?" Ellie whispered down to him. He looked up at her and grinned, leaving no doubt in Ellie's mind as to his thoughts on the matter.

"So listen," Quill was saying to Gamora while checking the ships current location on a large screen. "I'm gonna need your buyers coordinates."

"We're heading in the right direction, for now." Gamora said cryptically.

Quill blinked, and then gave a lopsided smirk, seeing her game. "If you wanna work together, you might want to try trusting me a little more."

"And how much do you trust me?"

Quill plucked the orb from between her hands, holding it carefully between the fingers of one hand. "I'd trust you a lot more if you'd tell me what this is. I'm guessing it's some kind of weapon."

With a gentle clunk, Quill placed the orb on the table between them. The blinking lights of the ships control panels reflected off its shiny surface and it twinkled like a star; _a mysterious and dangerous star. Not to mention an overrated one._

"Yeah, what is this thing?" Ellie narrowed her eyes at the innocent looking sphere on the table. "Why is everyone making such a fuss about it?"

Gamora caught Ellie's eye. "I don't know what it is." She admitted.

Drax snatched up the orb, squeezing it with a healthy portion of his strength. "If it's a weapon we should use it against Ronan." The bloodthirsty look in his eyes couldn't be mistaken.

"Whoa big guy, careful there!" Ellie said, alarmed and stepping back into her corner, just as Gamora snapped "Put it down you fool; you'll destroy us all!"

The orb still in his fist, Drax turned on Gamora, his pensive expression replaced by one of fury. "Who would trust you, murderess!"

Gamora rounded the table in a flash. "I let you live _once_ princess!" She snarled. _Uh oh. We're up close and personal._

"I am not a princess!"

"Hey!" Before Drax could do Ronan a favour, Quill jumped between them. "Nobody is killing anybody on my ship!"

Ellie took a tentative step out of her corner. "Come on guys; this is a very confined space we're in here. Splattering each other across the walls isn't going to help anyone."

"Yeah, what the kid said. We're stuck together until we've got the money."

Drax's face changed rapidly; from incredulity, to sorrow and then rapidly to disgust. "I have no interest in money!" He hissed, tossing the orb with a flourish of his fist back to Quill.

"Great." Quill muttered quietly as Drax stalked from the room. "That means more money for the three of us."

An indignant rumble sounded though the room. Turning, Ellie saw that Groot was now wide awake, his arms and shoulders raised slightly, offence written across the bark which made his face.

Quill exhaled impatiently. "For the _four_ of us; partners." He raised his arms in an 'all inclusive' way.

Taking Quill's poise in with her eyes, Gamora's mouth twisted in distaste. "We have an agreement, but I would never be partners with the likes of you." She turned to go, but then turned back slowly, adding: "And Quill; your ship is filthy." Before beginning to scale the ladder into the main control deck without glancing back.

Watching her go, Quill gave a breathy laugh as if to say 'women!' to which Ellie rolled her eyes. While she was getting used to each of the strange characters on board ship, her reactions to them had not changed; she was almost primed to roll her eyes at every word Quill said. Ellie opened her mouth to ask Quill how much longer until they arrived, but stopped when she saw the way his eyes were lingering. _Is he..? Yep. He's totally checking her out. Well, this ought to be interesting… _Ellie internally snickered. _The Ravager and The Genocidal Maniac's Lackey Turned Good. There's a Shakespeare play in that somewhere._

"She has no idea." Quill turned to her and Rocket, looking somewhat smug. "If we had a black light, this place would look like a Jackson Pollock painting."

Rocket only paused for a second. "You've got issues Quill."

"Oh yes." Ellie said as she shook her head. "To say the least." She barely watched as Quill pitched the orb onto the table yet again disappeared from the room in a sulk, resolving to devote all her attention to the game of noughts and crosses on a scrap of paper in her hand. Then a flash of silver caught her eye.

The orb sat quite still on the table where Quill had left it; if it had been capable of making an expression, Ellie was certain it would have been one of feigned innocence. She bit her lip. Despite the surreal nature of her week so far, she could hardly get up and ask the others _"Did you guys feel anything when you were holding it? Like anything weird?" _Pitching her out of the airlock for having the crazies wouldn't hurt their chances of becoming rich after all.

Ellie threw herself into a cross legged position on the floor, looking down at the scrap of paper in her lap. _I wonder if it's possible to beat _yourself_ at this game…_

* * *

**Hello folks!**

**I hope you enjoyed the next installment! :) Please leave feedback; it really motivates me to update sooner!**

**Sarah.**


	9. And Who Are You?

The Kiln floated in the centre of the quadrant as it always had done, an example of the impartial justice of the Nova Corps and Xandar; an assurance of security and of unity. Solitary and strong, it had been content since its conception to exist alone in the great vacuum of space, serving its purpose with pride and without complaint. But this was to be no longer. A mighty warship now loomed over it silently, like some enormous dark bird of prey, spreading its wings, waiting to devour its much sought after prey. Any ship passing by would have looked on the sight of the two gigantic shadows and sighed; it was so quiet and so peaceful, not a sound to be heard. But it was anything but peaceful.

The prisoners and guards alike were strewn on the floor, not dead, no; not yet. They were huddled little masses, yellow and black alike; weapon-less and defenceless. Some had their arms over their heads, others clasped their hands to themselves and some were even emitting quiet sobs. They were the same now. No longer could the guards throw their power around, their positions couldn't save them now; they were equal to the people they had imprisoned and guarded for so long. Despite how some cried and others did not, all were alike in that they crouched on the floor and dared not lift their gaze from it.

After all, none had any wish to meet _his_ gaze.

_And rightly so. _

Ronan stood above them all on the highest walkway, overlooking the desperate carnage and yet somehow not really seeing any of it at all. His mind was far across the stars, and though any watching his figure would have called him the image of pensive, he was brimming with a cold fury. He had been close. So very, _very_ close to apprehending Gamora the traitor. How dare she betray him?

Locating the orb was supposed to have been a simple task, a minor exhaust of his men and resources in exchange for his greatest triumph; the destruction of Xandar. Nothing would be more glorious! However, it would seem it was to be a fight for the orb. And now there was _this…_this Terran problem. Another puzzle. A Terran problem somehow relating to the much sought after orb, a problem somehow a concern of Thanos's, a problem Ronan was somehow going to have to solve one way or another. Ronan couldn't pretend to understand Thanos's meaning, and as he knew, his confusion was something that Thanos probably took great pleasure in. Just the thought of it had him grinding his teeth violently.

"I swear! I don't know where they went, I swear!" The hysterical gasp of a prison guard cut through the air, breaking Ronan's train of thought. The man was on his knees, Nebula's blades at his exposed throat. That was where he belonged in Ronan's opinion. The Kree were by far the superior race of the galaxy. Had their culture not thrived throughout the millennia, had their empire not stood proud and tall for countless sunsets? Yes, it was mighty; it had every reason to be feared. That is, until a certain treaty had been signed…

From behind him, he heard the man's desperate pants of breath, as though he could hear his own death toll sounding louder and louder. _How irritating…_

"If he knew where they were headed he would have already told us." Nebula said, her hands still steady around the knives.

_They. Yes, that is true. _Gamora had acquired companions, as improbable as it sounded.

"Ronan!" Nebula's voice had suddenly taken on a worried sounding edge. "The Nova Corps has sent a fleet to defend the prison!"

After a moment, Ronan turned his back on the rabble below, putting that filth from his mind forever.

"Well then." He said, beginning to walk down the walkway. "Send necro-craft to every corner of the quadrant. Find the orb; any means, any price."

"And this place?" Nebula asked in a hushed tone, like a priestess attending to her god.

"Nova cannot know what we are up to. Cleanse it!"

As he strode away from Nebula, his thoughts turned back to those who had defied him. They were insignificant, termites beneath his feet. _They. _But he was Kree. And Kree warriors know their enemies, and do not fear to look in their eyes. With movements almost involuntary as he walked, Ronan reached and plucked a small computer system from atop a control panel as he passed. He stopped at the end of the walkway. These were records of the entire prison he was sure.

Below him, what they would call 'The Kiln Massacre' in years to come began.

Ronan opened the records, holding the machine lazily in one hand. The light of the screen danced over the immense piece of armour which served to protect his chest, shining on his war paint, emphasising every shadow. The first of the miscreants flashed up on the screen. A face, a history, a name.

Peter Jason Quill.

The prisoners were screaming.

Ronan knew of him, the 'Star Lord' as he called himself. There was nothing of any consequence about this man, he was good for nothing; no fibre, no backbone. The only honour Peter Jason Quill held was that he was the first one to defy him. His honour for this would be a slow death.

There was however one piece of information that caught Ronan's eye. **Home planet: Terra **it read. Ronan narrowed his eyes at the smirking face on the screen. Peter Jason Quill was connected to the orb, he had _stolen_ it, but not connected in the way Thanos seemed to infer. The connection Thanos described seemed much more deliberate, deeper, somewhat at a molecular level. Only such a connection could forge a change in the galaxy that Thanos would be able to sense it and be _concerned_. Ronan could infer that much. He dismissed Peter Jason Quill with a flick of one hand, moving onto the next set of information.

The screams were dying down now; the occasional whimper could be heard.

There was Gamora's mugshot on the screen; the sight of her face incensed Ronan all over again. How he longed to wrap his hands around her neck and watch the light leave her eyes as he choked it out of her. After that followed another even more insignificant lifeform, mighty in stature but otherwise there was nothing memorable or noteworthy. A humanoid tree followed on. Then a rodent like result of illegal experimentation. _Ridiculous. _

Ronan swiped the screen for a final time.

Looking out of the screen at him was the final member of the misfit team who had evaded him; a young woman. The small, pale face stared boldly into his eyes; with such intensity that it almost caught him off guard. He had never seen such colouration before; blonde curls, porcelain complexion, eyes the colour of honey. The stare wasn't fierce like a criminal's, or even defiant; there was fear there, yes, it also showed in the paleness of her skin. But if asked, he would have said it was a searching look, searching for answers in a galaxy much larger than oneself; with that look, it almost seemed as though she were asking Ronan himself for answers.

It was surreal. This was not the crowning puzzle however.

There beside her face was her given name and her unique haemoglobin signature. There was nothing else. No parental records, no birth certificate, housing history, education history, employment history, criminal records; nothing. Ronan felt his brow furrow, his war paint almost cracking under the movement. It was almost as though she had dropped out of nowhere.

Then he saw it. Aside from her name and signature, there was only one other piece of information.

There was silence in the Kiln.

**Home planet: Terra**

_Well. _Ronan placed one blue finger at her chin, and followed the slender jawline up into the mess of blonde curls. _And who are you?_

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**And so we are a step closer...I hope you enjoyed Ronan's POV for a change! Please Review and let me know what you think! :)**


	10. The Ancient Celestial Being's Headache

Ellie became aware of something damp on her face. Blearily she moved her limbs slowly as she woke from her sleep, silently cursing; _Is that – yep, I was dribbling in my sleep. Great. _With a quick jerk of her arm she wiped her face, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Looking around for a second, she found herself on the floor in the corner of Quill's 'Butterfly' ship, wrapped up like a little sushi roll in a blanket. The hum of the ships engines was gentler now than when they had been escaping from the Kiln: they had roared like a primitive animal then, just about scaring the living daylights out of her.

Quill was to her left. He was messing around with his Taser gun, whipping it out of his jacket, pointing it at an imaginary foe with blasting sound effects and then replacing it in his jacket. _What a kid. _Ellie couldn't help but seethe a little over how Quill was representing the rest of the human race; _I know this is a movie (Right?) but because of him the rest of the galaxy probably thinks we're all crazy, pop culture obsessed Twinkie eaters. _Looking at his cheesy and somewhat absent minded grin, she felt no guilt in what she was thinking whatsoever. Casting her mind back to earth, she wondered how Quill would fit into the earth as it was now; he'd been away for a while. _He'd fit right in at Comic-Con._

_I wonder what he'd think of the new 'Transformers' movies._

"Heads up!" Rocket's voice echoed from the main control room above.

Quill shifted his gun back into its holster, scaling the ladder swiftly. Not wanting to leave her little nest in the corner, Ellie groaned as her curiosity got the better of her; throwing off the coverings, she hobbled in her half asleep state to the bottom of the ladder, grasping the cool metal carefully as she climbed. _I feel like an old woman._ She clambered up into the main control room, and she saw it floating in front of them almost instantly. She made a sort of strangled noise in the back of her throat which everyone ignored.

There is no way to describe it but this; before them drifted a severed head the size of a small moon. It was the largest dead thing she had ever seen. It was alien, bearing familiar features such as eyes, the shape of a skull and a mouth, but nothing else about it resembled anything Ellie had ever set eyes on before. It floated eerily, its blank eyes staring into the vacuum of space, its dead jaw slack open in a permanent leer; beside the far off blinking stars and the graceful and glamorous nebulas, it seemed like a sick joke.

Quill of course was able to sum all this up into one word.

"Wow."

"What is it?" Drax asked in a hushed tone, in stark contrast to his usual booming voice.

Gamora answered at once. "It's called Knowhere. The severed head of an ancient celestial being. Be wary when heading in rodent: there are no regulations whatsoever in here."

"Great. One more question; will it hurt when I die?" No one gave any indication to have heard her but Groot, who gave out a grumble in his chest, partnered with a reassuring pat on Ellie's head.

Silently, Rocket guided the ship in with ease, passing into the limp jaw of the head. A sudden glare of light blinded them all momentarily.

Ellie blinked, trying and failing to take in everything she could see all at once. The place, the _head_, was like an enormous city; there were buildings and streets, people in these buildings and on these streets: _who could have imagined this sort of settlement? _ Ellie thought with wonder. She then frowned a little when the answer came to her; _the screenwriter, that's who. _Around and above all of this, what looking like little 'space pods' shot around like flies, mining the interior with a proficiency Ellie wished could be demonstrated back on earth; _the coffee breaks the builders on earth have: in that same time these pods will have bled this head dry_. The pods passed dangerously close by one another; a matter of inches existed between them. Death missed by inches.

As Rocket set the ship down and they all clambered out, Ellie felt an uneasy prickle at the base of her spine and on the back of her neck. It was a sense that she was becoming used to. The sense of danger.

"Not that I'm not totally cool with the idea of hanging around in a giant severed head or anything," she said, looking at the grey walls of the street. "But why are all these people here?"

Gamora once again provided the exposition. "Hundreds of years ago, workers sent in miners to harvest the organic matter in the skull. Bone, brain tissue, spinal fluid; all rare resources highly valued in black markets across the galaxy. It's dangerous and illegal work. Suitable for outlaws."

From the front of their group, Quill let out a bark of laughter, striding on ahead as he spoke.

"Well, I come from a planet of outlaws; Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, John Stamos… Am I right, Kid?"

"I was thinking more along the 'Charles Manson' line, but Billy the Kid was pretty bad…"

Drax caught up, sauntering on Ellie's left. "Sounds like a place I would like to visit." He said thoughtfully.

Quill nodded. "You should."

"Yeah," Ellie chimed in, "But before you do, think very carefully about exactly which part you want to visit. For instance, when it comes to Essex…"

Out of one of the smaller alleyways came the pattering sound of many small feet, and in an instant they were all surrounded. The children swarmed around them, their pinched little faces looking up at them all imploringly, hands outstretched.

"Watch your wallets." Quill muttered under his breath.

"Could you spare a unit?" Came a small voice.

Ellie bit her lip. She had always been told by her father to never give money to the homeless: 'if you must' he said 'buy them a coffee or a sandwich,' but the hollow look in those children's faces was haunting. Subconsciously feeling in her pockets, she felt terrible that she had spent her last few pounds on _Doritos_ and Guacamole. _I really don't think they'd appreciate these chewing gum wrappers._

Ellie paused in her walk, realising one of their party was missing. Turning back she saw Groot crouched over, branches spreading around his head just like the sun shielding kind back home, all charity and kindness. His face was nurturing. He extended one of his arms before him, and as Ellie watched, a small yet beautiful flower sprouted from within, its petals unfurling and stem lengthening as she watched. He plucked the beautiful flower from his arm, handing it to one of the small children. She looked at it through her wispy hair for a moment, before smiling up at the gigantic creature; the gentle giant.

"Hey, I never got one of those!" Ellie whined, punching Groot playfully in the arm as the child scampered away with the rest of them.

"I am Groot." He said gently. He wasted no time; before Ellie knew it another flower had sprouted from the palm of his barky hand. He held it out to her carefully by the stem. It was a light blue; the most fragile and beautiful thing she had seen since being sucked into the TV. She tucked it behind her ear, pushing her curls out of the way.

"_Danke schön, _big guy!" Ellie grinned.

"Get out of here." Rocket was hissing at one of kids. _Probably thought he was a plushie toy._

The lights of the many other buildings in the distance could be seen, alive and buzzing with activity; Gamora however was heading to one building in particular. The glaring lights and the unpleasant characters outside could mean only one thing. _Dear mamma…it's a club._ Bass pumped through the ground. Neon lights danced. Antics were inevitable.

"Your buyer's in there?" Rocket sounded sceptical.

Ellie felt no better about the situation, squinting up into the neon lights of the building with distrust. "God, it reminds me of this one club in Nottingham…I _hate _clubbing!"

"We are to wait here for his representative." Gamora said curtly, walking gracefully into the leering open arms of the club.

"This is no respectable establishment!" Drax said as they watched a rather burly looking security guard toss a drunkard out into the dirt, sounding affronted. "What do you expect us to do while we wait?"

* * *

"_Yes! Yes! Yes!_"

Drax's drunken roar soared above all other sounds, joining the hoots and yells of the rest of the intoxicated rabble; one of his fists hammered the air in glee, the other clasped around some unnamed alcoholic beverage. His eyes were alive with excitement; a welcome change from his usual bloodlust.

The shadowy inside of the club was a bustle of activity, the majority of the occupants were surrounding one table in the centre, drink in hands and shouting at the top of their voices; hoping, praying that luck is on their side. Bets flew between them like deranged bats. They were all watching what unfolded on the table before them; one large reptilian alien stood tall next to many smaller lizard type alien things, and the former was devouring the latter with scrumptious ease. Which of the smaller creatures would last the longest? Ellie didn't care to know.

She was hunkered down a little away from the table, her back against the wall, hands in pockets. She knew she must look sullen, _I'm not usually a party pooper, _but she didn't care for this kind of _sport_. She never even drowned ants as a child. Unfortunately even from that distance, she caught every moment of the action.

"Yahoo!" Rocket hooted in glee as yet another small creature was devoured.

The largest creature on the table bounded forward, shrieking in the way only reptiles can before leaping forward, catching the final smaller creature between its jaws. It flung it upwards in the air and devoured it whole. The crowd roared at the grand climax. Ellie blanched. _Poor little lizard alien thing. _The match had been won, money began to change hands and Drax's baritone went up yet another notch in volume.

"…won in all things!" He was slurring, slopping his drink all over the tables surface. "Now let's put more of this liquid into our bodies!"

"That's the first thing you've said that wasn't batshit crazy!" Rocket bellowed in approval, following suit with throwing his drink everywhere.

_Ugh. _Not that the odd nightcap wasn't perfectly okay with her, Ellie just didn't really see the point in attaining 'blind drunk' status, especially when one was about to come into a huge fortune.

Ellie puffed out a breath of air, squinting at her surroundings. _Most unsavoury. _Wondering if it was worth her time to take a jaunt outside, she found herself meandering towards the door of the club, leaning against its edge and drinking in the outside scene with her eyes. Of course it was no landscape, (_just don't think about the fact that you're inside a giant head, swimming in its synapses…yuck!_) but it was quieter by a long shot.

Despite the futuristic nature of it all, Ellie couldn't help but pick out similarities: things like home. The sounds. The far off sounds of the bustle of ordinary people going about their lives could be heard: soft voices, the footsteps echoing off an alley wall; accompanied only by the occasional sound of an industrial space pod soaring past. The sights also reminded her of home. The lights in the windows winked from far away, the colossal buildings piling on top of one another into many giant masses; for a mining colony it certainly resembled a city. It was also dangerous, unpredictable and unsavoury: bad news.

This particular galaxy had been nothing but bad news so far.

She found her thoughts turning to Ronan the Accuser. _The most I know about him isn't great news either. _Suddenly while examining the giant inner skull of the ancient being, another more unsettling thought occurred to her.

_All this time I've been comforted in the fact that space is huge, so there's no way he could ever find us. But this is a _movie _right? And I'm with the main characters? Therefore, movie solution to creating drama is to get them to meet at some point, right?_

_ Holy mother. _Ellie looked worriedly upwards, as though expecting the Accuser to swoop down then and there. _Lee Pace is smokin' and all, but I don't really want to meet his Kree persona. Or that nasty looking hammer he had in the promotional poster._

It was about then that the ruckus began.

At the piercing sound Ellie jumped about a foot in the air. _Oh Jeez!_ She turned and peered back into the gloom. The sound had been guttural, animalistic and incredibly loud; it was immediately followed by a chorus of whoops, whistles and the unmistakable sound of a crowd egging it on.

_Those roars sound very familiar… _Ellie dashed back inside of the club and pushed her way through the rabble, her small stature making it easy. She reached the edge of the circle. She felt her mouth dry up.

Drax and Groot were at each other's throats, landing blows and yelling as they did so; it was a full on brawl. Groot's face was twisted in an unfamiliar warlike grimace, which Drax wore with as much vigour.

Suddenly they bowled each other right over the table, smashing and tearing at one another's respective bark and flesh. Grappling, Groot reached up with his twines and wrapped them tightly around Drax's thick neck, squeezing tighter and tighter. Drax roared, his hands groping and hooking at the vines as he struggled to breathe, and then with one violent motion he tore the vines from his body; Ellie threw in her hands to save her eyes from the flying wood, which battered against her hands like tiny needles.

"Stop it, you guys!" She yelled as loudly as she could over their battle cries and the crowd egging them on. "Everyone's staring!"

Either they didn't hear her or they ignored her, because Groot suddenly pummelled one giant fist into Drax's stomach, sending him flying backwards before climbing back onto his feet with almost frightening swiftness. Drax was on his feet too. He roared and began to charge.

"Stop it!" Gamora Yelled. She flung herself in front of Drax, pushing both her hands into his shoulder to stop his advance. Quill was even faster, leaping between them and Rocket with lightning speed. Good thing too; Rocket had just unsheathed his 'almighty gun of awesome destructive power.' Ellie felt her eyes widen.

"Rocket, no!"

"Get out of the way, blondie!"

"No! Whoa!" Quill said, grabbing Ellie under one arm and pulling her out of shooting range with one hand and putting his other hand up in the direction of Rocket's gun. "What are you doing?"

Drax was almost beside himself with rage. "This vermin speaks of things he knows nothing about!"

"That is true!" Rocket hissed.

"He has no respect!"

"That is also true!"

"Hold on! Hold on!" Quill's eyes had widened in alarm; Rocket looked ready to unload a truckload of shots at any given moment.

"Keep calling me vermin tough guy!" Rocket yelled at Drax, his paws shaking in the tight grip on his gun. "You just wanna laugh at me like everyone else!"

"Rocket, you're drunk; alright? No one's laughing at you!"

"He thinks I'm some stupid thing he does!" Rocket was bawling now, every word seeming to claw up his throat against his will; his rage allowed nothing else. "Well I didn't ask to get made! I didn't ask to get torn apart and put back together over and over and turned into some…some little _monster_!"

"Rocket, no!" Ellie couldn't hold her tongue any more. She held her hands up appealingly, treading to stand next to Quill. "I promise you that no one's calling you a monster."

Ellie tried to forget the gun between them as Rocket's beady eyes found hers. They were swimming with pain, both memories of physical torment and emotional humiliation; it was wrenching to look at, but impossible to look away from. Looking at Ellie he must have found sympathy, because he ground his teeth in frustration.

"He called me vermin!" He jabbed his gun in Drax's direction and then in Gamora's. "She called me rodent! Let see if you can laugh after five or six good shots in your frickin' face…"

Rocket readied his gun. Ellie stumbled backward a step. Quill leapt further forward, his arms tense and reaching out. "Whoa! No no no: 4 Billion units, Rocket! Come on man! Suck it up for one more lousy night and you're rich!"

Rocket was looking up at Quill, every muscle in his body tense and quivering as he held up the gun. The seconds trickled by. Ellie felt all the moisture dry up from her mouth; _Rocket is a foul mouthed merc, but a _killer_..? _She clenched her jaw, not daring to look away.

After an eternity, Rocket lowered his gun; it powered off with a clunky electronic hum.

"Fine." He said hoarsely. "But I can't promise when all this is over that I'm not going to kill every last one of you."

Quill huffed in exasperation, throwing up his arms. "See, that's exactly why none of you have any friends! Five seconds after you meet someone you're already trying to kill them!"

From behind Gamora, Drax leaned forward menacingly. His blind rage had vanished, but there was now a coldness present; Ellie couldn't decide which was worse.

"We have travelled half way across the Quadrant, and Ronan is no closer to being dead."

Freeing himself from Gamora's grip, Drax turned and stalked away, his back taut and corded, frustration simmering from every part of him.

"Hey, wait! Come back!" Ellie found himself calling after his retreating figure.

"Drax!" Quill called.

"Let him go. We don't need him." Gamora said curtly. Groot gave a dismissive wave of his arm in Drax's direction.

_God, that was dramatic. _Ellie exhaled, instantly wishing for her favourite stress reliever. _What I wouldn't give for some decent _Jacobs_ Crackers right now. _She couldn't help but notice how everyone else seemed noticeably less ruffled by the proceedings, as the moment the gun was down Gamora, Quill, Groot and Rocket were all calm; no recovery time necessary. Ellie looked down at her still shaking hands. _Nutters._

"Milady Gamora." A clear voice echoed across the room. "I'm here to fetch you for my master."

Ellie turned in the direction of the voice.

"Wow!" She said, her eyes almost popping out of her skull. "_Tickle me pink_ much?"

* * *

**Hello all! ^_^ I hope you enjoyed the next installment; please leave an update, it's extremely motivational!**

**\- Sarah**


	11. One Stone to Rule Them All

The owner of the voice in question was, in Ellie's opinion, a beautiful sight to behold. The whiteness of her clothes emphasised the pink of her hair and skin; an alien pink, so vivid and striking. She stood very neatly at the mouth of a circular door, bowing and gesturing inside.

Gamora didn't hesitate for an instant. Ellie cast her eyes back, glancing around the gloom of the club for a moment; it didn't take much for Ellie to decide which was the more appealing. _Let's see; the mysterious unknown or the club? The terrifying shadows of the room beyond, or the club? _

The large grey room into which she followed Gamora was lit eerily by a series of white lights, which stretched about the ceiling in glowing bands, lengthening the shadows and deepening the corners. Ellie didn't dare look into any of these sinister spaces, lest she see something she rather wouldn't, _like a space rat, or Dr Hyde. Or is it Jekyll?_ There was a strange chill in the air, an almost unnatural one. She rubbed her hands together. Surrounding them as they climbed the stairs were many transparent glass cages, _tanks _almost, though Ellie couldn't tell what they contained yet; blue light emanated from them, dancing across their eyes. She shuddered. Rocket climbed the stairs ahead of her, one paw still poised on his gun.

"Okay, this isn't creepy at all." He said, not caring to lower his voice.

"You said it." Ellie muttered. "I'm just waiting for Frankenstein's monster to jump out of one of these tanks."

"…houses the largest collection of relics and species of all manner." Their escort was saying airily. She sounded like she was reading from a script, her words emotionless and empty. _I wonder what she really thinks about all this._

A perfectly ordinary looking dog blinked out at them all from behind one of the panes of glass, kitted out in an astronauts get-up. At the sight of Rocket its puppy eyes vanished; it bared its teeth and growled, hackles up.

"Grrrr!" Rocket hissed in return. Ellie bit the inside of her mouth to prevent herself from laughing; Rocket's nerves were still jangling from the confrontation in the bar after all.

Their floaty escort came to a halt, her arms spread wide like she was about to drop some graceful ballet moves. "I present to you Taneleer Tivan; The Collector."

Standing next to a desk on the far side of the room, the Collector turned around slowly, with such drama Ellie had to physically restrain herself from saying "_Dun dun duuuuuun!_" He looked as though he ought to be running across the snow dunes of _Star Wars_'s planet Hoth; the furs about his shoulders were white, the coat hanging long down around his ankles, held up by foreign looking black fabric. He wore a peculiar set of spectacles, and his hair and face were white and as cold looking as the stare he gave them. It was calculating.

"My dear Gamora." He drawled as he approached them, capturing one of Gamora's hands in his. "How wonderful to meet you in the flesh."

"Let's bypass the formalities Tivan. _We_ have what we discussed."

The Collector raised his eyebrows, and turned to examine the rest of the 'Dream Team.' Ellie was relieved when his eyes didn't linger on her; _being thoroughly unremarkable has its advantages after _all! They did however pause on Groot, taking in his stature and genetic makeup all at once. The look was one of greedy interest.

"What is that…thing there?" He asked Gamora, his eyes still on Groot.

"I am Groot."

"I never thought I would meet a Groot. You must allow me to collect your carcass; at the moment of your death of course."

"I am Groot." The statement was strangely compliant; _I would be more than apathetic when it comes to being displayed like that. _Ellie turned and looked with distaste at the collection of glass cases around her.

"Why? So he can turn you into a freaking chair?" Rocket said.

The Collector looked down at Rocket, and then jerked his head towards him. "That your pet?" He asked Groot.

"_What_?"

_I swear it's become my job to jump in front of people to save other people. _Ellie thought as she leapt in front of Rocket, whose paw had flown to the gun on his back, no doubt to blow 'Albino' and his 4 billion far far away. "Whoa, Rocket! I'm sure he didn't mean it like _that_…" One look at the collectors face told her she was sadly mistaken.

Thankfully Gamora was on the ball. "We have been halfway around the galaxy retrieving this orb." She said pointedly.

"Very well then. Let us see what you've brought."

Gamora nodded once, turning to Quill and signalling for the 'One Orb to Rule Them All.' Quill reached into his satchel, bringing forth the glittering ball apparently with the potential to bring worlds to their knees (_judging by how sought after it is_) and he promptly dropped it. It fell to the floor with a clang. Ellie didn't bother to hide her grimace as Quill swooped to the floor, plucking up the orb and resuming his dramatic pose as though nothing had happened. _Really sets the tone._

"Oh, my new friends." The Collector said as he took the orb, rolling his words around his mouth as though savouring each one. He placed the orb into some contraption, which set about spinning the orb around like a mechanism; a key.

"Before creation itself, there were six singularities." He stood facing the orb, activating many screens which surrounded the desktop. "Then the universe exploded into existence and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated units."

They all stepped towards the screens together as though drawn by some force, a mysterious and otherworldly power. Ellie watched the image on the screen implode and then explode, sending stars into all corners of the universe, and then watched as others came together; they concentrated, coming together with ease, forming some small units of matter.

"Infinity stones. These stones it seems can only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength. Observe."

The image on the screen changed yet again, showing instead what appeared to be the surface of some unknown planet. The land was rich and green and full of people, people who were running; Ellie had no trouble guessing what they were running from. It was enormous, a giant of a creature; it looked to be made of stone, wide and powerful. In one colossal hand it held a staff as tall as a building, ending with two elongated parts, from between which Ellie could see a strong purple light emanating. _Could that be the power_?

"The carriers can use the stone to mow down entire civilisations like wheat in a field."

The creature brought its staff to the planet's surface with a final and earthshattering blow. Under its strange purple power the plants died, the land dried up into cracked stone, the people turned to ash. The screen then showed an image of the planet itself: it was engulfed in purple energy, everything was dead. Ellie felt her mouth dry up.

"There's a little pee coming out of me right now." Quill whispered.

"Once for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroyed by it."

Indeed, there on the screen, a group of monk looking people all stood in a circle, the purple power passing through each of them in the circle. They were engulfed, shattered, reduced to nothing almost instantly before all their eyes.

"Well, that's one way to break up the gardening club meeting." Ellie tried for humour. Nobody laughed.

The mechanism before them all clicked, gradually taking apart the orb layer by layer, spinning and moving carefully. Then it stopped, having clicked apart for a final time, exposing the contents; it hovered there between the two silver halves of the orb, emanating the strange light which Ellie had just seen wipe out a planet.

"Beautiful!" The collector whispered. "Beyond compare!"

_So. That's it. _

The little stone glowed and pulsated like a tiny little heart, almost seeming sentient in the way it emanated its strange purple light. Though it was silent it seemed to make a noise, a keening – no, like a _voice_. Ellie wondered what it would be like to touch it, to wrap her hand around it, feel the power pulsing through every part of her being; tearing through her nerves, her skin, her spirit…

"Blah, blah blah!" Rocket's sarcastic drawl snapped Ellie out of her vision. She tore her eyes from the glowing stone. "We're all very _fascinated_ whitey, but we'd like to get paid!"

The Collector just looked amused. "How would you like to get paid?"

Rocket ground his teeth, thoroughly _un_amused. "What do you think, fancy man? Units!"

"Very well then."

The Collector turned to his desk, pulling open a drawer and counting out what Ellie supposed must be the promised 4 billion. Guessing that it would probably take a while to count out 4 billion, Ellie turned her attention back to the stone; the purple light winked at her from across the room. She tried to shake away the feeling she had had earlier, the _need _to touch it.

"I guess we shouldn't be touching that thing then." She muttered to Quill, who was standing next to her.

"Not unless you're a being of extraordinary strength." Quill looked her up and down. "You should definitely stay away from that thing."

Ellie opened her mouth to lash him with wit, but sharp words cut across her.

"Carina." The Collector sounded alarmed for the first time. "Stand back!"

Ellie looked around, startled. The pink woman had, without anyone noticing, walked right up to where the infinity stone floated, glowing with what Ellie now thought a malicious light; beckoning, daring anyone. She looked up with her alien eyes, finding the Collector's shocked ones.

"I will no longer be your slave!" She cried.

"_No_!" The Collector screamed.

With one decisive hand, she grasped the stone.

The reaction was instant. Bolts of purple lightening shot around the room, tearing into anything they touched, ripping apart the walls, the display cases, the shelves; it was accompanied by a roaring sound and the incredibly high pitched screaming of the unfortunate Carina. The stone's power was ripping through her, and finding no strength to cling to, it simply destroyed. Cracks appeared on every part of her body, the purple power of the infinity stone shining through them. Any human screaming in such a way would have torn apart their own throats.

Ellie dived to the floor, flailing out of the way of a purple bolt; she scrabbled for something, anything while swearing at the top of her voice. Plaster fell from the ceiling as the rumbling got louder.

"Jesus! JEE-ZUS!" She yelled, dimly wondering if anyone heard her or cared.

Suddenly, something hooked under her, wrapping around her waist. As she was lifted from the ground she felt with her hands, and found the barky vines of one of Groot's arms; looking up she saw his face, taut with concentration as he bent low, running with huge strides out of the room and back into the club. Rocket was in his other arm, showing off his colourful language. People were running everywhere yelling and everything was tinged purple by the light.

She, Rocket and Groot all yelled in unison as Groot gave one giant leap through the exit of the club, an enormous explosion of purple energy following behind them; they flew through the air. _Lord, I don't want to die! _Ellie squeezed her eyes shut and clung as tightly as she could to the arm Groot was holding her with. She felt the impact as the three of them crashed to the floor, the rumble of falling debris behind them, a buzz of failing electricity; then, nothing.

Standing up, Groot looked back towards what remained of the club and the Collector's lair. Once he had ascertained that the destruction was over, he let both her and Rocket down to the ground gently.

"I am Groot." He said quietly.

"Oh crap." Ellie heard herself saying. "Crap, crap _crap_!"

"You said it blondie."

Ellie stood unsteadily on her feet, turning about slowly to face the carnage. Looking at it, she was reminded, somewhat unwelcomely, of the planet she had watched get mowed down by the giant creature on The Collector's screens; desolate lifeless rubble. Out of that rubble came Gamora and Quill, marching from it as quickly as they could, nerves jangling and a new fear in their eyes.

"How could I think that Tivan could contain whatever was within the orb?" Gamora was saying, agitated. The orb was clutched in one of her hands.

"_What do you still have it for_?" Rocket cried as he ran up to them. He was beside himself.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Quill also sounded ruffled, something which obviously didn't happen often. "Leave it in there?"

Rocket pointed at the orb as though he were accusing it. "I can't believe you had _that_ in your purse!"

"It's not a purse, it's a knapsack!" said an indignant Quill. Gamora shook her head at their antics, clutching the orb tightly in both her hands.

"We have to bring this to the Nova Corps." She said. "There's a chance they could contain it!"

Rocket was almost jumping with incredulity. "Are you kidding me?! We're wanted by the Nova Corps; just give it to Ronan!"

"To _Ronan_?" Ellie managed to find her voice. "What are you saying? I don't know exactly what he's planning on doing with it, but judging from the collector's _home videos_ I've got a pretty good idea-"

"He'd destroy the whole galaxy!" Quill finished for her.

"What are you, some saint all of a sudden?" Rocket rounded on Quill. "What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you want to save it?"

"Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!"

Gamora seized the front of Quill's shirt, forcing him to look away from Rocket. She looked vulnerable, frightened even. Ellie's chest suddenly felt tight. If _she _was scared…

"Peter, listen to me." Gamora said quietly. "We cannot allow the stone to fall into Ronan's hands. We have to go back to your ship and deliver it to Nova."

"Right, right, okay. You're right." Quill said quietly. He sounded strangely amiable, and was most uncharacteristically being reasonable. "Or…" _Oh God, here we go. _"-We could give it to someone who's not going to arrest us who's really nice for a whole lot of money."

There was silence. Gamora pulled the orb from Quill's grasp.

"Wow Quill." Ellie laughed nervously. "You know, the 'merc with a heart of stone' image is incredibly overused."

"Oh, come on! I think it's a good balance between their two points of view."

"You're despicable." Gamora said, putting a healthy amount of poison into each of her words. "Dishonourable. _Thankless_!"

Gamora turned on her heel to stride away, but stopped dead.

"Oh no!"

The harmless whizzing sounds of the industrial pods had been replaced with the more guttural roars of more powerful ship engines. Ellie looked up. There was a new fleet of ships flying straight towards them, a more volatile, less friendly looking bunch of ships. Dark and loaded with guns, she couldn't help but stumble back a few steps at the sight of them.

"What on earth-? Or should I say: what on giant severed head..?"

"At last! Ha ha ha!" Ellie turned and got her answer. Drax was standing in the centre of the street, watching the ships approach. He had clearly been expecting them. "I shall meet my foe, and destroy him!"

"You _called_ Ronan?" Quill sounded livid.

"How the heck did you do that?" Ellie cried. "Did you get his mobile number? _Accuser on speed dial_?"

_Ronan. Here? Oh no. Well, I did call it back in the club; that's what happens when you have too many protagonists in one place…_

"Quill!" Another voice cut through the air. It belonged to a blue faced alien, who was surrounded by many mean looking cronies. "Don't you move, boy!"

_Wow. Did every antagonist just show up at the same time?_

At the sight of the Ravagers, Quill's face somehow managed to increase in its alarm, eyes widening at his doom coming from not one but two directions. He and Gamora vanished from sight down a corner, dashing towards one of the ports for the many industrial pods.

"Don't you-!" With violent shoving motions, the blue faced alien and his cronies began to give chase through the crowds of people; swift and mean looking, Ellie had no desire to become acquainted.

She ran towards where Groot and Rocket stood; the latter of which was climbing into one of the pods.

"I told you, you can't fit!" Rocket was hissing at Groot, who looked forlorn. "Wait, I'll be down!"

"Rocket, what about-?"

"You stick with Groot, blondie!" Rocket called as the door to the pod swung shut. "This is already much more than what I bargained for!"

Standing back, Ellie and Groot watched at the engines on the pod ignited, and Rocket vanished into what was to soon become a dogfight above. They lost sight of him almost instantly.

"They'll be fine. They'll be okay, right Groot?"

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, they'll be fine." Ellie clasped her hands together to try and control their shaking. "All this fuss over some silly stone; if it were a tub of _Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough _I'd understand…Why would Drax call Ronan?"

"I am Groot."

"Yeah, to kill him I guess. Do you think he could do it? Would save us a lot of trouble later on in the movie."

"I am Groot." Somehow, Groot sounded doubtful.

"He's going to die." The words tasted bad. "We've got to help him Groot!"

"I am Groot!" Groot shook his mammoth head.

"Is that a '_We wouldn't be able to make a difference_' no or a '_he's getting what's coming to him_' no?"

"I am Groot."

Ellie sighed, wishing she could understand what Groot meant. Groot didn't expand on the subject, raising his head to the flurry of ships above, probably trying to decide which one Rocket was in. Ellie withdrew inwards. Drax had lost everything, he was a shattered man/alien and it drove him to rage; she knew plenty of decent human beings who dealt with loss in a similar way. _He shouldn't have called Ronan. _She wasn't so great with her emotions at times. _He _still_ shouldn't have called Ronan._ The idea of him bloodied and dead didn't sit well with her.

For as bumbling, vengeful and silly as he could be: _I don't want Drax to die._ She realised.

She waited until Groot's gaze was skyward, and against all sense she ran. Back the way she came, back towards Drax, back towards God knows what. _Come on Ellie, what on earth are you going to do if Ronan does try to kill Drax? Give him a good talking to? A slap on the wrist? _Ellie had no idea what was carrying her feet forwards, but on she ran, until she arrived at a street corner. She turned the corner, made a choking sound, and quickly darted back out of sight. Then, when her nerve had gathered, she peeked back around the corner.

While all the other mean looking ships had gone after Gamora, Quill and Rocket, one remained. It was before this one that Drax waited, his weapons at the ready, his soul prepared. Armageddon wouldn't have distracted Drax now. It wouldn't have distracted Ellie either, she found herself unable to look away from the sight, from his vigil, from the shadowy ship.

Abruptly, with an electronic sounding hiss, the ship's door lowered itself to the ground slowly, acting as a kind of ramp from the ship to the floor. The inside of the ship was a black void; Ellie could see nothing inside. Then, with slow and carefully measured steps, Ronan the Accuser stepped from the blackness.

All the promotional posters in the world couldn't have prepared Ellie for the sight.

Each of his steps resounded, his size making it impossible for them to not. He stood at over six and a half feet, a foot superior to Ellie; the length of his shoulders was incredibly broad and Ellie was immediately sure that the slightest pressure from one of his hands would have strangled her. His metal headdress obscured most of his head, but did not obscure as much as she would have liked. The black war paint around his eyes and dredged down to his mouth terrified her. He wasn't carrying his Warhammer; _thank God for small mercies._ His formidable looking black armour covered him from neck to toe; heavy and bulky, it reminded her of the attire of the knights of old, whose style of fighting demanded that you look your enemy in the eye as you ended their life. No guns, no opportunities for cowardice.

It wasn't the least bit difficult to imagine him wielding the infinity stone.

Drax was stood dead centre in the street before the ship, both of his enormous hands wrapped tightly around deadly looking curved knives, his arms thrown wide as he brandished them in the green glow of the celestial being's brain tissue.

"Ronan the Accuser!"

"You are the one who transmitted the message?" Ronan's deep baritone was chilling; every word laced with contempt as he examined his would be opponent.

"You killed my wife!" Drax's voice shook with emotion. "You killed my daughter!"

At Drax's words, Ronan's mouth twisted in displeasure, his eyes alight with a cold fire. _Dear God. That is one angry smurf._


	12. Grouchy Smurf

Ellie had the sudden urge to sneeze.

_No no! _She pinched her nose, leaning against the grey wall, holding her breath. _If you get discovered, it won't just be Ronan who gets you; it'll be his entire army!_ Managing to stifle her sneeze, she peered slowly around the corner and into the street.

Out of the black void that was the inside of Ronan's ship, his grey clad cronies had begun the march out, armed and deadly looking. At the head of them was another alien, one which stood out starkly against all the greyness.

Ellie blinked in surprise at the newcomer. _Smurfette? _

She was blue skinned like Ronan, but altogether much shorter and more feminine, _Is she Kree as well? I guess it's kind of beside the point, since I don't think I want to get on her bad side either way. _Ellie knew she wasn't wrong. There was something about those deep black eyes, something pitiless and violent in their depths; _she's Gamora's sister, right? _Ellie thought about Gamora's position, alienated (_no pun intended_) from functioning society, a black and painful past threatening to creep up on her at any given moment…in short, enough to drive anyone insane. Those black eyes, like Gamora's, held a lot of stories. But that was far from being the crowning glory. Ellie's eyes widened as she first spotted the cybernetics inset in the alien's body; metallic plates with inlaid technology glittered in the greenish light of Knowhere in her head, unknown information being ingested constantly with each passing second. Ellie supposed that the correct terminology would be 'android.' _If she ever says 'Delete, delete' or 'I'll be back,' I might just lose it._

A fast electronic humming sound from above her head caught Ellie's attention. Looking up she saw several of the clunky industrial pods pass over swiftly, and found her thoughts turning to the others_. Space Jesus, if you exist please let them be okay! _The blue alien also cast her eyes upwards as the pods whizzed away overhead. Her black gaze returned swiftly to Ronan, alarmed.

"It is Gamora!" She hissed, sounding vexed. "She is escaping with the orb!"

She immediately turned around and began ordering the cronies back into the ship, shouting in some alien language, violently gesturing; presumably to give a swift chase to get the stone. _Hold on, she's going _after_ Gamora? I thought they were siblings! Now I'm grateful for being an only child._ The grey armoured clad cronies immediately marched back into the ship, the female blue alien at their heels, still screeching orders. Ronan turned purposefully to follow them.

As he turned away, his eyes on Drax, he smiled.

It was cruellest thing Ellie had ever seen, a sneering jeer at everything Drax had lost and at all his suffering. It chilled her to the bone. The fury on Drax's face drained away, to be replaced by a look of shock as he stared at Ronan's retreating back. Then came the look of pain. Ellie couldn't believe that this display of malice was happening right in front of her. _God. I actually feel appalled._ Then, in watching his enemy quite literally turn his back on him and his challenge, rage returned to Drax again.

"_No_!" He roared. He charged at full speed towards Ronan's retreating back, his arms raised, clutching his deadly knives. He swung one of these blades towards Ronan's head.

"Nebula." Ronan said, effortlessly dodging Drax's first swing. "Retrieve the orb."

The blue woman, who Ellie now knew was called Nebula, dashed into the ship at Ronan's order and it took off instantly, howling up into the fray; howling, no doubt, for blood. Having been reeling for a second when his first attack missed, Drax now made another charge at Ronan, who raised his armoured arm to counter. The Kree warrior easily redirected the blow away from himself with heavy grace, his stance warlike, before he placed a well measured blow in Drax's abdomen with his unbreakable fist. Drax went flying, crashing into the side of one of the buildings with such force Ellie was amazed he wasn't wedged in there.

As the two enormous aliens grappled, Ellie felt like she was about to bite her tongue clean off. As she watched, she beheld what a fight looked like when it was one sided; as God was her witness Drax didn't land a single good blow. She had never felt more a spare part, more _useless_. She gasped in dismay as Ronan knocked not one but both of Drax's knives away; they skidded quickly out of sight, never to be seen again. Hands darting to quickly cover her mouth she hid out of sight for a moment, praying that he hadn't heard her. She peeked back around the corner. No. He was too intent on his 'opponent,' _or can we say victim?_

As Drax recovered, Ellie's eyes moved to Ronan's face. His expression was of great disinterest; a mask of bored, dignified disdain as he watched Drax regain his feet, circling predatorily. She was reminded unnervingly of a cat she once seen; on the side of the street it had caught a mouse but wasn't devouring it straight away, it was playing with it. _This isn't a fight._

Knifeless, Drax instead moved to attack with his fists. That turned out to be as effective as Ellie's most recent attempt at a cheesecake. With a swiftness that was alarming, Ronan's hand whipped up and seized Drax by the throat.

Trapped in Ronan's grip, Drax landed punch after punch in Ronan's side, a glint of mad desperation visible in his eyes for the first time. They glanced off as though he had been striking a wall; fruitless, hopeless. Ellie was chewing the inside of her cheek so much that she could taste blood, and her fingers were numb from clinging to the side of her hiding place with all her strength; unable to bear the sight of Drax's desperation any further she looked instead at Ronan, and she found a cold fury there. _Oh no; the entertainment value has run out._

With one deep and animalistic battle cry, Ronan flung Drax's entire figure head over heels with one hand still clutched around his throat; Drax was helpless to stop the motion as his feet went out from under him. He may as well have been motionless. Ellie felt her face stretch into something that resembled horror as Drax's body met with the mud ridden floor with a resounding blow; such an impact would have no doubt shattered all her bones.

Pinning him by his throat to the ground, Ronan looked down at Drax with utter contempt; the look a man might give a cockroach before stepping on it.

"I don't recall killing your family." Ronan released Drax's throat, standing up to his full and terrifying height. "I doubt I'll remember killing you either."

_God, Papa Smurf is going to be _so_ mad at him…_

Drax raised his head weakly off the ground, then fell back; his eyes closed. He was still. _Get up! _Ellie willed him. Ronan reached down and grabbed one of Drax's ankles, proceeding to drag him across the muddy street, leaving a trail of blood and sweat. He hauled Drax in the way one might drag a sack of potatoes, or a bag of rubbish for dumping. He was striding away from where Ellie hid, towards what looked like an enormous tank; Ellie craned her neck, and saw to her disgust what looked like yellow gloopy glue, or custard. _Tart anyone?_

Ronan paused for a moment, observing the solution bubbling before him. A gleam of inspiration lit up the Kree's eyes for a moment. Then, with a bout of inhuman strength, Ronan pitched Drax into the solution with one arm.

"Someone's had their Weetabix." Ellie wasn't trying to be funny; there was no sense in it. She was so horrified at what she had just witnessed that she was on smart Alek autopilot.

The Accuser stood silently, watching his enemy drown. With a deep rumbling, the ship containing Nebula and the cronies hovered down into the street.

"Ronan," Came an electronic sounding voice over the intercom. "It is done."

_Done? _Ellie felt panic trickle down her spine like cold water._ What's done? Dear God, are they all dead; did 'Blue Man Group' get the stone? Am I stuck in this movie forever? Oh no._ She closed her eyes on the street and Ronan, trying to imagine what on earth could come next. _Groot is alive. _Ellie thought. _I should go back and find him._

When she looked back around the corner and onto the street, neither Ronan nor his ship was anywhere to be seen; the only movement was the steady bubbling of the yellow tub of goo. A bubbling that was getting less and less frantic: it was dying down. Dying.

"Drax?" Ellie's whisper was strangled as she crept from her hiding place. "Drax!"

Certain that the Accuser was out of the picture, Ellie dashed towards the huge vat of the bubbling yellow substance; gloopy and custardy looking, Ellie wrinkled her nose up at it. She watched for movement, any struggle, a protruding hand; there! The bubbles rose to the surface, a sign of life.

"So, Drax is probably drowning in spinal fluid. Who'd have thought?" She let out a nervous laugh. "Right, so if I have a feel around about here…" Her hand tentatively hovered over the surface of the yellow goo where Drax had vanished, worried about proceeding but determined to save Drax's life.

It was just about at that point (when it also occurred to Ellie that she probably wouldn't be able to lift Drax out with her bare hands unless she was the Hulk) that she heard it. At the heavy footfall she turned, a look of utter confusion plastered her face.

Ronan the Accuser was standing about twenty feet away.

"Oh, you have got to be pulling my _leg_!" It took Ellie all of a couple of seconds to get herself on the other side of the tub of goo in order to put something, anything between herself and the Accuser.

Ronan strode forward slowly from where he was standing until he was at the very edge of the yellow goo tub, facing Ellie straight on, but making no move to circle around. He paid the bubbles that were his foe's last breaths no mind. Her heart hammering in her chest and her palms moist with fear, Ellie daren't look away from those peculiar alien eyes and face which was now strangely pensive looking. She didn't like the way his eyes were shining one little bit.

"I believed as much." He said, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Stay back!" Ellie tried to keep the tremor form her voice to no avail. "Or I'll summon Gargamel the Evil Wizard! He'll have no qualms about putting you in his cooking pot, believe me!"

He was still, almost seeming like a man in thought as he looked at her. His face was impossible to read, a blank slate; the eyes however…

Ellie dug her nails into her hand, refusing to get sucked in, remembering what he had done to Drax not moments before. The cracking sound of connection between Ronan's fist and Drax's body shouted though her memory; she could supress the shudder, but not the coldness spreading all the way through to her fingertips. _There's no sense in interpreting a lack of rage in an angry person. _She looked at his eyes again, likening the shining shards of ice in his skull to everything that was cruel and unfeeling.

The craft which Ronan had arrived in suddenly hovered back into view, its engines humming. Ellie took a moment to note its colossal guns before looking back at the Accuser.

"What do you know of the orb?" His voice resonated, commanding an answer. _God, his voice is even scarier when it's directed right at you!_

"Not much. How about you open it up and hold the contents in your hand for as long as you can?"

Nebula's voice sounded over the ship's intercom again. "Ronan, are we to return to the 'Dark Aster?' A link with my father has been –"

"I shall of course be opening it, that is a suitable course of immediate action; what currently concerns me stands elsewhere." Ronan said to Ellie ominously, his dark eyes intense. He then turned to the hovering spacecraft. "I believe this initially fruitless trip has yielded the solution to Xandar all of its own accord. Nebula, land the craft."

Ellie may be occasionally witless and dorky, but if there was one thing she didn't lack, it was common sense; a trait necessary to survive. Quietly she made her move. The instant Ronan turned his attention elsewhere, she ran. Ellie turned and ran, forgetting in her terror about Drax, about Groot and the others, the orb and even the fact that she was supposedly in a movie. All she cared about was putting as much distance as she could between herself and the 'Space Grim Reaper.' _Death on two legs, that's what he is! _

She ran for as long as she could without getting a stitch and then stopped; leaning against what resembled a skip, breathing heavily. She felt clammy and more afraid that she had ever felt, wiping her sweaty hands down her jacket.

"My kingdom for a Groot?" She called hopefully.

She was greeted with silence. Most of the population seemed to have cleared out to escape the deadly space battle which had been going on above, and there was no one there to even give her a strange look, let alone help her. The few who remained hurried about their business quickly, heads down. She looked around, scanning her environment as quickly as she could, looking for anything useful. Nerves jangling, she tried to make sense of something.

_Could I fly a ship?_ She wondered, watching an industrial pod take off. _I can sort of drive a car; is it similar? Even then, where could I go? I don't know the way back anyway; what about Groot? I should find Groot. What if I can't find him? I need to get out of here! But how? _Thoughts scrambled, Ellie stared dumbly around, her senses ticking like a deer caught in the headlights.

Suddenly, an incredible force pulled her backwards, her feet from beneath her, knocking all the air out of her lungs with one blow. Ellie's shout was cut short when her back was slammed into something very hard and her body was pinned there by an immovable force across her shoulders. She looked down at the arm imprisoning her, knowing by its strength just who had grabbed her, knowing more because of that than the black clad armour on the forearm or the blue skin of the hand grasping at her shoulder.

"Let go of me, Grouchy Smurf!" Ellie shrieked in her terror. She pawed frantically and uselessly at his forearm.

"I think not." Came the menacing rumble from high above.

There was a buzzing her ears, a loud rushing sound which pulsed through her head with her thrashing heartbeat. Sweat was cold on her face. She suddenly felt as though she was floating, the noise in her head crawling black spiders into her eyes. _He's going to kill me. _She thought with absolute certainty.

Then Ellie did something that she had never done before in her life. She fainted.

* * *

**And thus, the plot thickens - I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review! :)**


	13. Ellie On Reasoning With A Maniac

The cold of space was biting; not icy, but just as insistent and rude as any winter chill: it was the first thing Ellie became aware of as she began to come around. It crept into her flesh like a parasite. Eyelids heavy, she shivered.

_ The heating must be broken. I should probably get out of bed. Nah, it's fine; just a few more minutes then I'll go make my porridge…_

Then it all came back in a colossal wave. The giant floating severed head. The violent space battle soaring above. The most violent disgrace to smurfkind to have ever existed.

"Oh God."

With incredible effort, Ellie opened her eyes to find herself lying face up on a cold, hard floor. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she blinked blearily around, trying to make sense of the darkness that enveloped all she could see. She was amazed that her breath wasn't swirling around her in white clouds; the chill was so intense. As far as she could tell, the room she was in was about five metres square; everything was cold black metal, with strange alien patterns etched above, below and around her. The higher she looked, the more the walls seemed to lean in, closing in like predators. Ellie felt bile rise in her throat, and claustrophobia stop her breath in her chest.

The only source of light was weakly shining through a small window which was attached to what Ellie assumed must be the door. Ignoring the swirling nausea in her stomach, she carefully pulled herself into what resembled a standing position; feeling many decades older, she hobbled towards the light. The window was just above her eyelevel: hooking her fingers through, Ellie pulled herself up, peering out of her prison. She was greeted with nothing but a wall of the same blackness.

"_Helloooooo_? Anybody lurking around out there?" Her voice reverberated, joining the silence. She tried to control its shaking. "How do you get some chow in this joint?"

Her echo was her only reply.

"Shoot." She felt her knees give way beneath her, and she slid down to the floor beside the door. _What do I do now?_

Panic tore at her for some time before she was able to become calm again. _I couldn't save Drax either. Sweet Jesus…_ Seated against the door she closed her eyes, promising herself that she would come up with an amazing escape plan, and promptly drifted out of consciousness again.

Later she opened her eyes again, squinting up at the dim light shining through her little window. She sighed, and then noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It reflected the light so obviously she was amazed she hadn't spotted it initially.

"What on creepy spaceship…" She crawled closer to the glint. Then she stopped; her eyes wide in disbelief.

It winked tantalisingly from its pedestal in the corner. Grooved and silver, it glittered ominously even in the dim light.

_No way is that the Orb._

She stared at it as one would stare at a murderer. One thing she knew; for as long as she lived, she would never forget the way the purple light had torn through the air, solid matter and organism. There was no doubt that it _was _the Orb. Being so close to it saw sheen of cold sweat emerge on Ellie's face. _What the hell -? _She couldn't fathom anything about the situation.

It was half an hour before the temptation proved too much.

Plucking up the Orb from its resting place, she dropped it to the floor. It bounced once heavily, and Ellie stooped to catch it. Sitting down, back to the wall and facing the door, she glanced its smooth surface against the cell door over and over; it went some way venting her frustration against the little thing. _Why should it only be a Vessel for the Stone of Death? I just happen to need a tennis ball right now. _She thought of the purple light enveloping the innocent alien back on Knowhere, and bounced it harder.

_I feel like Capt. Hilts from 'The Great Escape,' only he knew what he was doing._

"Just call me the 'Cooler King.'" Ellie laughed emptily into the void. She watched the silver of the Orb reflect across the bleak walls; brightly white, it was nothing like the light emitted from the infinity stone. There was no sign of the powerful purple that the galaxy had every reason to fear.

The Orb bounced off the wall and into her waiting hand.

_I wonder…has he opened it? _

She tilted the orb around, weighing it in her hand.

Then she felt it. The same feeling she had felt each time she had held the orb in the past. That pulsing beat, almost like a tiny heart, and the keening sound; _the stone is still inside. _Ellie knew this. She didn't know how, but she knew. It was an inherent sense, as a part of her as any instinct. With no distractions but the black walls Ellie was able to think clearly about everything. She recalled all the recent strange happenings; _there's something up with this Orb. Not just that either, but with…me. There's something up with the Orb and me._

_Blue Man Group must have some terrible torture lined up for me. _She realised with a sick feeling in her stomach, _Even though I know nothing useful. _

_I can't stay here. _The final affirmative seemed to shout in Ellie's mind. She stood on her feet, orb in hand and drew herself up to her full diminutive height, staring down the cell door as though it were challenging her.

_Catching Gamora's knife that first day…Beating up the prison guards without any training…_

_Could bashing down a cell door be any more challenging?_

She winced, readying herself for the pain, holding the orb tightly, and struck out with her fist. In a dream, she felt her fist connect with something extremely hard, but she did not shatter; her bones didn't rattle and there was no spread of bruises. The cell door creaked forlornly, complaining in its decent to its final resting place: the floor. With an ear-splitting boom it struck the floor of the spaceship.

"_Yes_!" She couldn't help punching the air. "Take that, you -!"

Giddy with her success, it took Ellie a moment to collect herself. She had the strength of twenty men. She didn't know how it could be possible, but it had worked. _Dear God. _At that point, she didn't care for the_ how _or _why_.

Carefully, she stepped around the wreckage of the door and into the corridor. It seemed to stretch on forever, dizzyingly long winded; but knowing that the crash of the door couldn't have gone unheard she wasted no time. The orb still in hand, she began to run, unsteadily at first, but she gradually got used to moving again. Working the soreness out of her limbs she sped along, reaching the door at the end of the passage. A button glinted to the left of her. She smashed it.

_Right, now if I can only find a ship or send a message- _The door opened with a metallic hiss.

"It would seem that, for once, Thanos was quite correct."

"Holy mother of -!" Ronan the Accuser stood in the doorframe, seeming as wide and tall as the door itself; black armour polished in the poor light, menace glinting from behind his war paint. Silently he had arrived, like a ghost. _How does he _do _that?_ Ellie thought desperately. She tore her gaze from those tormenting eyes to the war hammer; it stood tall in one of his hands, more than ready to split her skull.

As he moved forward, Ellie stumbled backwards, waiting for the blow. One large hand closed around her wrist, pulling her arm upright and the shining orb to his level. Slowly, almost carefully, he removed the orb from her grasp. With a flick of his hand he summoned one of his cronies to his side: a heavily muscled cyborg of a darker complexion answered the summons. Ronan passed the orb to him; he held it reverently.

"Your theory was proven, master?" The cyborg asked, electricity pulsing through his limbs. Ronan did not answer his question.

"To the bridge." Was all he said. Ellie became uncomfortably aware that in all that time, his eyes never left her.

Lifting his Warhammer, Ronan turned in sweeping grandeur and began to walk away, his speed purposeful. As she watched Ronan, two guards closed in around Ellie, and she found herself seized under the arms and dragged along behind Ronan's retreating back. She resisted for a second, craning her neck up at the guard clasping her left arm.

"Whatever he's paying you, I'll pay you the same in _Jacob's Crinklys_." She tried. The guard looked at her like she had just grown an extra head, and then proceeded to haul her away.

Before she knew it, they arrived at what Ellie supposed was the Bridge of the grim starship; tugged onto a walkway, she started to think. All Ellie knew about 'Bridges' in science fiction she knew from _Star Trek, _a favourite show of her father's. The bridge was the nerve-center of every starship, and it was manned by the top officers of each department except for Engineering and Medical. In short, it was the place to be to find stuff out. Even so…

_Captain Kirk, please save me! _

She was pulled to a halt behind Ronan who had also stopped, his attention fixed on the immense wall of the ship before them. The cyborg stood off to the side, still holding the orb as though it were his first born son; Ellie then noticed for the first time Nebula, standing there with her self-important airs. The dim light gleamed off her cybernetic build.

"Begin transmission." Ronan boomed to an alien beside a control panel, who hurried to obey.

At the push of a button, something enormous flared to life before them; something which made Ellie want to curl up into a ball on the floor and cry. The screen was vast; In fact, the entire 30ft wall before them was the screen, and the terrifying face that appeared took up the entire screen.

The creature on the screen, Ellie decided, was a demon even worse than Ronan himself.

Warhammer in hand, Ronan gestured towards where she stood, his eyes never wavering from the monstrous face towering over them. "This Terran has a unique connection to the contents of the orb; the link is as you predicted."

Unable to look away, Ellie found herself trapped in the gaze of a monster. The eyes were harrowing. Somehow, Ellie knew exactly who this creature was. There was no way this could be anything but a mad titan.

"Interstellar imbalance." Thanos rumbled, taking in every part of Ellie's being.

"In addition, the orb is in my possession; as I promised."

"Bring them to me." Thanos's voice resonated through the bleak bridge of the ship, making Ellie's blood run cold. _Thanos wants _me?! _For what?_

"Yes." Ronan said thoughtfully, taking the orb from the waiting cyborg and handing over his hammer. "That was our agreement. Bring you the orb, find the link, and you will destroy Xandar for me. However, now that I know the Orb contains an infinity stone, I wonder what use I have for you?"

Ellie blinked, eyes widening.

"Boy!" Thanos thundered warningly. "I would reconsider your current course!"

With one focused and violent twist of his hands, Ronan ripped the orb in two.

"Holy hell!"

Oblivious to the vexation of his guard, Ronan held the orb half and glowing stone to eyelevel, his face enraptured in its purple light; enraptured and hungry.

"Master!" The cyborg holding Ronan's hammer cried in alarm. "You cannot! Thanos is the most powerful being in the universe!"

"Not anymore!"

With one quick motion, Ronan ripped the stone from its prison. The reaction was an instantaneous eruption across the bridge. Spreading his arms wide and arching to the heavens, he roared as the flames of the power licked at his form, enveloping right through his bones. The power fed into the floor at Ronan's feet, rupturing it in purple light. It bellowed its way through the bridge, zipping past everything; the guards holding Ellie released their grip in alarm, and Ellie buried her face in her hands. Nebula watched with crude fascination. It was identical to the way the power had reacted on Knowhere.

But this time, it was contained.

Buckling under the power, Ronan's massive form writhed a little; he then turned about, reaching for his hammer. The cyborg looked alarmed, holding out the hammer to Ronan carefully, trying to keep his distance as much as possible. Seizing it from the cyborgs trembling hand, Ronan raised the palpitating stone high, and then slammed it into the hammers hard black stone; it was imbedded, relic joined with relic.

Ronan titled his head back, tasting his new power: his entire form was tense as it absorbed it. It moulded itself around its new bearer, ready to serve.

He had harnessed the power. Ellie felt sick.

"You call me boy!" His snarl was loud and unruly, the purple light now glowing eerily from his eyes. "I will wreak one thousand years of Kree justice on Xandar and _burn it to its core_!

"Then Thanos…" Ronan whispered as he glared poisonously upwards. "I'm coming for you."

With a wave of his hand the transmission cut off and the mad titan vanished.

"After Xandar…you're going to kill my father?" It was Nebula who spoke, clearly still reeling a little from Ronan's betrayal.

Ronan looked sharply at Nebula, the purple light pulsing in his eyes. "You dare to oppose me?"

"You've seen what he has done to me. Kill him, and I will help you destroy a thousand planets."

The infinity stone glowed from the Warhammer, looking as though it was where it had always meant to be; in the hands of a madman. The evil glow certainly didn't look out of place. Ellie felt restless, useless; she groaned internally. _What on earth are you going to do? _She chastised herself grimly. _Hold your breath until he hands over the stone? Lecture him on the realities of maturity? Nag him until he agrees to abandon his crazy blood mission? You'll be dead long before then._

A shiver crept down Ellie's spine, drawing her unwilling gaze up. She saw those strange purple eyes watching her from across the bridge, almost as though he could hear her inner monologue. She felt a strange urge from within herself, an urge to _do _or_ say _something. Since physical violence was clearly out of the question against an infinity stone wielding maniac…_Lecture and nagging it is then._

"What on earth are you hoping to achieve?" She heard herself ask, ignoring all the warning bells inside her head.

Strangely, instead of ignoring her, Ronan did not hesitate to answer.

"The Xandarians and their culture are a disease; spreading across the galaxy like a foul mildew, infecting everything they touch. What I hope to achieve – is purity. Thanos has delivered the answers to me, and has seen to it that fate has at last dealt in favour of justice."

"More like your megalomania has seen to it." Ellie muttered quietly, but not quietly enough.

"Their numerous crimes have seen to it; seen to it that my father, and _his_ father will know vengeance by my hand." He waved one of his large hands in a dismissive gesture. "_Escort_ her back to her cell."

"Okay, so you'll destroy Xandar, kill millions of innocents... _Then what_? You'll settle into early retirement?"

"You will speak when spoken to!" Nebula hissed, clearly furious at Ellie's attitude.

Ellie felt rough hands hook underneath her arms, ready to haul her away. Images of that dank cell swept into her mind; its darkness, its coldness. Claustrophobia reared its ugly head.

"You're not unique you know!" She shouted in a desperate frenzy.

The guards looked on warily, their weapons and faces tense, and Nebula watched Ronan closely, looking unsettled. As Ronan turned, all time seemed to stop. There was something in his eyes; the light was dim and his eyes glowed with the infinity stones power, but if Ellie had been forced to name it, she would have called it surprise. Whatever it was it was clearly a rare sight, as the hands did not haul her away.

"There was once a man on my planet who had a very specific set of ideas, ideas that he wanted to be the world's ideas. He wanted to _be _the world. He wanted a superior race, language, homeland; he didn't care what he had to do to get it. Those plans also involved the destruction of an entire race; he pinned all these made-up crimes upon a blameless people, all because they happened to say different prayers.

"He was stopped in the end of course," She added. "People never stand for that sort of thing."

Tentatively, she looked up and over at the towering figure that was the Accuser, framed by the purple glow that was his new formidable power. She couldn't read the face behind that primitive war paint at all. But she did watch his hand tighten around his hammer, the purple glow intensifying across the metal of the dark bridge. The terror was an enormous thing clawing at her insides, but she knew she couldn't stop; she had to forge onward.

"You can't blame all Xandarians for the death of your kind in this war, just in the same way that I wouldn't judge all Kree based on my interpretation of you!"

Ronan's footsteps as he approached were the only sound to be heard; heavily they echoed easily around the bridge, paling faces and stopping blood cold. He looked like Ellie imagined death to be.

"If you stripped away all the politics, his ends made no sense. One colour? One race? One language? What kind of a world is that?"

As Ronan's towering figure arrived not at breath away, the guards imprisoning her released her: but Ellie's relief was short lived. A stab of panic shot through Ellie's body as Ronan fastened the hand not holding his war hammer around her neck. She tensed for the squeeze and the crunch which meant the end of her life, but it didn't come. He held her firmly, like a brace, but did not crush. He wasn't choking her – yet.

"If all Terrans talk as much as you," he said while considering her face, "After Xandar, Terra shall most certainly be my next visit."

His words struck horror into her heart; first because she knew he could actually do it and second because if he did now strike the earth to its core, it would be all her fault. She began to feel lightheaded, fuzzy; her hands, grasping onto the wrist of the hand that was imprisoning her, began to shake. She looked up.

Ronan was watching _very_ her closely.

She pushed down on the sob she felt building up inside her, instead trying to turn whatever she felt into anger. All her nerve on the line, she stared right back into those shining, purple eyes. In her gut she knew that if she looked away, she'd lose.

"Earthlings are generally very polite." Ellie whispered, holding onto his wrist as though her life depended on it. "I just happen to be exceptionally rude."

"Exceptional is correct."

Ellie felt her brow furrow in surprise at the odd statement. Hand still secure around her neck, Ronan looked at her eyes, then her hair, her mouth and then her eyes once again. The seconds trickled by. _Heck in a handbasket, what is he -? _Ellie felt her nerve begin to fail her, wondering how much longer her legs were going to support her.

"I think that my plans for you will be…_exceptionally specific_."

For an endless moment, purple eyes and brown eyes were locked; then at last the Accuser released her throat, turning back to the bridge and gesturing to the guards once again.

"Escort her back to the cell." The rough hands were under Ellie's arms once again. She held her throat with one hand as she was pulled, struggling not to glower at the Accuser.

"I would have you brought back to the bridge when we arrive at Xandar." She heard him say.

The doors to the bridge slid shut as she was drawn away, but not before Ronan had delivered five final words to Ellie. These final words would turn her heart to ice, and force her to her knees with panic when the guards eventually dropped her into her new cell.

"I would have you watch."


	14. Rocket's Heart Grew Three Sizes That Day

With a turn of a yolk and a push of a button, Rocket pulled the industrial pod he had been flying around in to the ground, spotting the towering figure of Groot crouched down in one of the dank streets, focused on something Rocket could not see. Mind you, Rocket couldn't see anything much: Terran stupidity had driven him to blind rage. He could barely drive the pod. _Damn it, damn it! _He thought as the pod spiraled lower, remembering Quill's sacrifice. If there was one thing he hated, it was selflessness. He gave the yolk a pull, steadying the pod. It landed with a resounding thump. Rocket peered out of the window.

Drax lay in a pool of yellow goo beside Groot, breathing heavily, broken and defeated. Rocket neither knew nor cared what had happened. With a final button push the pod door slid open, revealing the fuming little racoon.

"Blasted idiot." He was saying as he hopped from the pod, landing on a patch of grass. "They're all idiots!" Looking up from the spluttering Drax, Groot could clearly see that Rocket was spitting with fury. The spindle finger he had grown to save Drax vanished back into his hand.

"Quill just got himself captured!" Rocket growled, throwing up his arms in an appeal to the whole galaxy. Then, as his anger reached new heights, he rounded on Drax.

"None of this ever would have happened if you didn't try to single-handedly take on a _frickin' army_!" Rocket waited for Drax to rise to his feet, for his booming voice to cut him off, to insult him, for the rock like fists to start flying.

Drax drooped even closer to the ground, his head low. All the courage and purpose he had derived from his blood mission, from his need for vengeance, had gone. Now there was nothing but despair. Rocket was most uncharacteristically caught off guard.

"You're right. I was a fool." Drax said quietly. "All the anger, all the rage, was just to cover my loss."

One of Groot's vine like hands twisted over Drax's shoulder, supporting him. Rocket looked on at the scene, at the heartfelt compassion from his companion. He'd always known what Groot was really like under all that muscle; only a kind hearted creature wouldn't instantly judge Rocket for how he looked. So far he counted two instances of this happening: Groot and a certain blonde Terran. He felt his heart twinge. It was an unfamiliar feeling: Rocket didn't like change.

"Oh, boo-hoo-hoo." He said mockingly. "My wife and child are dead!"

Groot raised one hand to his mouth, gasping in horror.

"Oh, I don't care if it's mean!" Rocket snarled. "_Everybody's_ got dead people! It's no excuse to get everybody else dead along the way!"

Groot stared at him boldly, his face suddenly disapproving; a look Rocket had never seen on his face before. Suddenly, Rocket felt the pressure; like _he _was in the wrong. He stared at them both, before flailing for his words. He could only wish that he wasn't trying to convince himself as much as he was Groot.

"Come on, Groot. Ronan has the Stone." He said with harsh finality, turning away. "The only chance we got is to get to the other side of the universe as fast as we can and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to live full lives before that whack-job ever gets there."

"I am Groot."

Rocket turned back to face Groot.

"Save them?" He was incredulous. "How?"

"I am Groot."

"I know they're the only friends that we ever had." Rocket felt himself choke up slightly. "But there's an army of Ravagers around them. And there's only two of us!"

Drax chose that moment to push himself to his feet, standing tall once again, one hand on Groot's shoulder in solidarity.

"Three." He said.

Rocket looked at them both. "Aw!" He growled in frustration. He clenched his fists and ground his teeth; _choosing_ to play the hero was one thing, but being _forced_ to play the hero… He began to vent his frustration on a tuft of grass growing between the slates of the street.

"You're making – me – beat – up – grass!" He roared, punctuating each word with a blow to the little tuft.

"I am Groot…" _If that's what it takes…_

"Hell." Rocket said, stopping his siege against the vegetation. "If we're going to do this, we're going to need one hell of a plan –"

Rocket stopped mid-sentence, blinked, and suddenly remembered. A feeling of dread took hold of him.

"Hold up – where's blondie?"

Groot's eyes widened in alarm.

"I am Groot!" He cried.

"I thought she was with you!"

Rocket whirled around on Drax, probably to blame him yet again, but he stopped. Drax had walked away from the tub of gloop that might have claimed his life, and was stooped over something, the ground blackened where he stood. Rocket shot a perplexed look at Groot, who simply shrugged. Drax was very still; he was deep in thought, clearly thinking hard. Then he reached out with one arm to the ground, scooping something up in one hand before straightening.

He turned back, a strange light in his eyes. Rocket recognised it. It was a resignation towards the terrible inevitable.

"Is this not her garment?" He held it out with one massive hand. The blue fabric of the jacket moved a little in the breeze.

Rocket looked at Drax, what he was holding, and then where he was standing. Scorch marks scarred the ground beneath his feet, black and broad; intense heat had brought them there no doubt. And for these to be right next to Ellie's jacket...

Rocket knew exactly what the marks were straight away; his mind had been primed ever since the experiments on him had ended to identify any technology, or indeed remains of technology. He knew what it was, but he didn't want to believe it.

Groot knew it too.

"I am Groot." _Necrocraft. _He said. _One had landed here. _

Rocket seized the fur on either side of his face in vexation. "Ah hell."


	15. When Reality Becomes Reality

Ellie had no idea how much time had passed when she woke up again. All she knew was that she was _still _cold. Cold and afraid. She managed to push herself into a sitting position again, her back to the wall, shivering. _Stupid Ronan. _She thought bitterly. _And this place has terrible service. I didn't even get complimentary soap. _

As she sat alone in the dark she found her thoughts drifted to home. If she tried hard, she could recall every little thing she did daily, where things were in her room, the way the wind blew and the way the birds sung. She thought about her friends and family, remembering their faces, wondering if they had even noticed that she was gone. She wondered if she was even _really_ gone; was it possible that this was all an illusion, that she had really and finally gone mad? Then she vividly remembered Ronan's formidable grip around her neck. _No. It happened. Somehow this is happening. _Claustrophobia suddenly took a hold on her.

She shifted slightly, her thoughts turning to the here and now. The inevitable burning of Xandar, the murder of men, women and children. _Dear God. What on earth do I do? How can I bear this? _She scraped her mind for popular culture that might help. Mickey Mouses' saying? If at first you don't succeed, try and try again? All for one, one for all? Dr. Peppers 'What's the worst that could happen?' _As much as I love Dr. Pepper, that's not helping right now. _Then, almost unbidden, she remembered a film she had watched called _The Mission,_ and how the priests had risked their lives and sacrificed them for a people who weren't their own: simply because they were people. Just because they were people. _Jeremy Irons knows where it's at._

_Sssshhp!_

In that moment, as suddenly as anything, the cell door sprang open with a hiss. A shadow stood in the frame of the cell door, looking down at her from a formidable height. At first she saw Ronan, ready to bring his hammer down on her head, redecorating her cell with her brains. Then as her vision adjusted, she saw what it really was.

With a yelp Ellie sprung into a defensive position, hands up and legs tense. The creature reacted, its gun flying up to point directly at her face.

"Stay back! I know Ninja things from _Naruto_!"

The creature's tiny eyes blinked. It was one of Ronan's guards, reptilian and grey, looking like death. Its gun was raised. _This is it. I didn't want to die like this. Why couldn't it have been a giant 'Stay Puft' marshmallow man?_ An endless moment passed, the barrel of the creatures gun close enough for her to kiss it.

The beefy grey arm holding the gun to Ellie's nose quivered and then dropped. If it was possible to identify exasperation on such an inhuman face, Ellie had found it.

"As I thought, two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity." It rasped, holstering its gun.

"Wha-?" Always one to get to the point, Ellie didn't waste time. "You _talk_?"

"Yes, I speak." The hiss was impatient. "And breathe. And think. And unless we soon hurry along: die."

The alien stepped away from the prison door and into the corridor, leaving the door exposed and empty, the gun harmlessly dangling at its side.

Ellie comically looked around, confused. "Hold up. You're letting me out? This isn't just some cruel joke that Ronan is playing on me for the lols?"

"Human." The guttural rasp from the alien sounded urgent. "There is next to no time for this." The creature stepped out of sight.

Mouth agape, Ellie stood where she was, frozen, still ready to unload her less than expert karate chops. _What in seventh hell_-? She sprang to the door, peering out like a fox out of its hole, waiting for a hunter to blow her head off with a musket.

The alien had stopped walking in the bleak light of the Dark Aster's corridor, resolution evident in his alien features. His eyes flicked up and down the corridor rapidly, watching and waiting, the gun back up to shoulder height. When he spoke the movements of the mouth reminded Ellie of _Predator_, like nothing she had seen outside of a movie.

"Do you have any long term goals? An aim that makes sense to strive for in the present climate?"

"Long term goal?" Ellie's brow furrowed as she thought, still half in her cell. "Right now it's to get home I suppose."

"Your origin is Terra." The alien began to walk away from Ellie's prison, up the corridor at a brisk pace. Ellie only hesitated for a moment before following. _If he wanted to shoot me, I'd be dead. Dead. Never to eat tiramisu again. _

"That's right; Terra earth." She said. "Earthy earth."

"I have heard of Terra; the system has formidable influence in this galaxy. News such as the Accuser being in possession of a dangerous artifact travels fast and far; and understandably so." The creature rumbled. "As far as I can tell from what limited information I have, a certain administrative body on your planet has been alerted to the risk. Your people are very protective of their system."

"An administrative body? On earth?" Ellie searched for any sign of kidding in the reptilian face before her, finding none. After staring at him blankly for a few moments, she snorted with laughter. "Boy have you got your knickers in a twist, turtle face! On my planet, all this craziness is nothing but a _movie_. A safe, normal and in no way harmful _movie_."

"I can't pretend to understand what you mean."

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that…"

Black, bleak and winding, the corridor was, above all other things, _long_. Ellie found herself struggling to keep pace with her bizarre rescuer, wondering what on earth was going on. The walls seemed even taller than she could remember, like a bad dream spiralling out of control. A voice in the back of her mind wondered if she was being led into a trap, that at the end of this corridor waited Ronan's formidable hammer.

"Why are you doing this? Not that I'm complaining!" She added hastily. "It's just I thought you were – well, a Ronanist? A loyal lackey? You seem like the kind of guy who'd follow the Accuser's Twitter page."

"What will occur has gone far beyond what anyone could expect; I want no part in what is to come. There is no foreseeable outcome where I emerge alive."

"Can you imagine his tweets?" Ellie found herself sniggering despite everything. "_Just made a little blonde woman pee her pants #infinitylolz #summer2015._"

"_Listen to me_!" The alien hissed, clearly annoyed that he couldn't understand anything Ellie was saying. "The time to act is now, if at all."

Ellie sighed, nodding wearily. "Now? _Right_ now? No time for a short coffee break, sir?"

"See there." He pointed his reptilian claw upwards and down the corridor. Ellie looked.

The end of the corridor in which they stood opened up onto what looked like some sort of control room; not the bridge where she had been before, no. It was much smaller, but no less informative. Many buttons blinked in the bleak light of the ship and one enormous screen took up the entire wall. Looking at the screen, she thought maybe that it wasn't what she thought it was. Maybe. Maybe she knew exactly what she was looking at.

The atmosphere swirled close to its surface, emphasising the greens of the plant life and indirectly the billions of breathing innocents. In short, it was full of life.

"Xandar." The Alien hissed.

_We've arrived already?! _Ellie wished for her ignorance to be returned. Looking on Xandar, so full of life and so bright in the dark void of space, she wished she had no knowledge of Ronan's plans, no certainty that she might in moments witness it being engulfed in powerful and evil purple energy. All life sizzling out of it. _Hang on. _Ellie felt a chill sprint down her spine. _Ronan said he wanted me to watch. That means his loyal cronies will be back to find me any minute!_

"Suddenly I'm feeling very active." Ellie said, adrenaline beginning to course through her veins. "Step to it soldier!" She cried. She surprised the reptilian guard by hooking one of her hands around his grey armoured forearm, dragging him with a strength he wouldn't have thought possible in someone her size.

"What is your intent?" He growled, stumbling to keep pace.

"We're going to get off this ship and warn them." Unbidden, the glittering white buildings of Xandar had entered her mind. The technology, the lush green trees…the men, the women, the children…The reptilian guard snorted in disbelief as Ellie dragged him into the control room.

"When Ronan strikes the infinity stone to the planet's surface, the safest place we could be is where we _currently stand_. We must wait until after he strikes, and then flee in a necrocraft to your planet while he is distracted –"

"Whoa, whoa; hold the phone! _When_ he strikes..? Who said anything about Ronan striking anything?"

"It is his obsession, and he will stop at nothing to achieve his aims –"

"I won't let him do this!" Ellie cut across the alien. "I know that I'm short, annoying and I'm not very smart; but I refuse to stand by and watch millions of people burn out for the sake of that crazy smurf's satisfaction. You might be capable of watching that, but I'm not. It'd be easier for me to saw my own arm off."

"Noble." The alien didn't sound impressed. "But there's more to it than that. _You _need to get away from Ronan, you understand me? You _personally_."

"Listen. All this crap that's been going on, the stone, Thanos…it's made me realise how big the picture is. So much bigger than you and me and Ronan and anyone. I don't think we can think about ourselves anymore."

"You speak for yourself, Terran." The alien told her.

"Great." Ellie tried to keep her tone even. "Let's go and find a ship, and then we can-"

With an accidental nudge, Ellie's elbow caught a leftmost button on the control panel, banishing the image of Xandar to a much smaller existence on the screen. It now floated among a galaxy of other planets, other search results: more of Ronan's conquests no doubt. _Huh. Even Ronan's supercomputers have a search history. _She bit back a laugh. The list was enormous, planets spanning across the galaxy of all shapes and sizes… Then, something in the recently searched database made her blood turn to ice.

She would have recognised that collection of solids, liquids and gases anywhere.

"Has Ronan been looking at earth? At Terra?" Ellie asked the alien beside her tremulously. A slight raise of his shoulders personified his ignorance.

The need to _know_, the one that frequently got her into trouble, returned. _I wonder…_

Somehow pressing the right button, Ellie watched earth swell before them like a bauble; it was beautiful, a swirl of blues and greens in the black void of space. It looked so vulnerable. She felt her hands move of their own accord across the alien keyboard, typing in a familiar country, county, street name, house number…The viewpoint on the screen moved inwards with such speed that Ellie felt as though she herself was being dragged in, sucked in through a wormhole of time. The indistinct swirls of green, white and blue turned into the shape of England, which then divided itself into the grey of a city, its streets and its houses. One particular street. One particular house.

Standing outside in the summer sun, her feet on the green grass of her back garden, Ellie watched her mother raise her face to the sky; innocently watching the clouds, or perhaps some birds soaring across earth's atmosphere. Almost as though she knew that, at that precise moment, her daughter needed the one last reality to be confirmed.

"I'm not in a movie." Ellie said with a final, resonant feeling. "This is real."


	16. A Baptism Made In Pop Culture

Coming full circle, Ellie once again lamented her disregard of the _Marvel_ Universe.

"This is real. This is real." She kneaded her head. The walls of the Dark Aster seemed to be listening, shimmering strangely with this revelation. "I really need to watch more cinema. Should I have watched all of _Marvel's_ movies? Dear God! Does that mean the _Avengers_ are real too?! What the hell is _Marvel_ up to?" She turned to see her alien companion watching with glassy eyes.

"This is _my _universe." She told him in wonder. "I live here! And this stuff is really happening. Am I in the Matrix? Oh! Could _The_ _Matrix_ be real too?! Shoot!"

The alien, thoroughly unimpressed, reached forward towards the control panel and pressed a button, banishing the earth into insignificance on the screen once again. His tiny eyes blinked, his mouth movements still eerily resembling the predator.

"You are speaking very little sense." He said. "It must be a human trait. That aside, we much make a final decision about our next course of action. I suggest-"

"Like I said before – we're going to stop Ronan and save Xandar. And indirectly probably countless other planets too." Ellie felt slightly feverish, overwhelmed. "And my planet too! MY people could be in danger: therefore, we're doing this."

"You are stubborn."

"No I'm not. I'm right."

"How do you plan to accomplish this?" The alien hissed, exasperated. He pointed forwards, towards the door and the corridor beyond. "Getting past the rest of the militia is necessary to get anywhere near transport _before_ Xandar's detonation, how are you planning on achieving this? There is also the matter that the ships gunners will likely detonate any unauthorised necrocraft leaving the ship; do you plan to reach Xandar's surface at all? So far we have avoided mention of the Accuser, how do you plan to-?"

"Stop asking completely logical questions!"

Ellie put her face into her hands, thinking. Her brain felt like sludge, a useless pile of cells between her ears; _c'mon soldier. Think! _She rubbed her temples. Three years being a member of _Scouts _hadn't taught her what to do in situations such as this.

"So leaving the ship is not practical." She reasoned slowly. "Therefore, we do what we can to stop Lee Pace from here!"

"Lee Pace?"

"Uh, and by that I mean _Ronan _of course!" Ellie laughed awkwardly. "Now, enough of this vagueness; you're right. We. Need. A. Plan."

"It will be far easier to quit this vessel after the detonation of Xandar. I suggest we position ourselves near docking bay 9, this is the nearest, and wait for the opportune moment."

"I hear noise, but none of it makes sense."

"How-?" He began angrily, but Ellie cut him off.

"You're part of the giant thing that is Ronan's terror ship and terror crew, you tell me how!" The alien didn't move, so she gently prompted him. "Where would Ronan be right now?"

"As we have arrived, I expect he would have returned to the bridge to observe the siege from above-"

"Great!" Ellie clapped her hands together, making the alien jump in his boots. "Well, not great, but now at least we know where he _isn't_, which is much more important. So where can we go, apart from the bridge, that would mean we can mess with this ship? _Safely_ mess with this ship?"

"No such place exists." He replied irritably. Ellie felt herself droop a little, wilting like a flower. He looked down at her thoughtfully, with an almost interested look. "However," He said cautiously, as though he were disabling a bomb. "I suppose in terms of usefulness, the secondary control rooms would most closely fit your description of a 'safe' and 'bridgeless' place of influence. Although for you, it is far from being safe." The warning in his tone was clear, hovering between them ominously. Chewing on her lip, Ellie stared at the black metal beneath her feet. The alien guard watched carefully, his claw like hands till taut on his gun, his eyes glittering. They weren't the eyes of a creature that wanted to be convinced, but the gleam in them was interested. He was waiting on her reaction. Ellie looked up. She pursed her lips and frowned.

"You could get us in there, yes?"

"Yes." He said with certainty.

"Super!" She gave him her cheesiest grin. "Let's go and mess with stuff then!"

Ellie could practically hear the gears clicking in his brain, the wheels turning steadily, _clunk clunk!_ "As you wish." He sighed eventually.

He began to march at a soldiers pace down the corridor, lifting his gun in his arms to point ahead, ready to gun down anyone who crossed their path. Hurrying beside him, Ellie felt adrenaline return full force. Coursing through her veins she felt it forge her onwards, able to keep up with the much larger creature as he led the way to what could quite possibly be their doom.

"So," Ellie said into the awkward silence. "What can I call you anyway, since we're best buds now? I'm guessing your mother didn't christen you 'Hench-alien #1009.'"

"I have no name." He said dully.

"I'll give you one!"

"That will not be necessary."

"Come on, let me name you!"

The alien's pace sped up, his feet clunking heavily across the ship floor, making Ellie jog slightly to keep up. He stared straight ahead, his form ramrod straight.

"Fine. It's not like I need your permission anyway." Ellie muttered.

'Bob' somehow didn't seem a good fit, neither did 'Benedict'; '_Zaphod' perhaps? Getting better._ If anything he still resembled the predator in Ellie's mind. _But he's _not_ the predator, he's on the good guys side. For selfish reasons maybe but on the good side none the less. _Ellie's brow wrinkled as she thought. _What was Arnold Schwarzenegger's character's name in _Predator_ again..?_

"How about _Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer_?" The alien gave her a disgusted look. "Okay, just Dutch then?"

The look in his eyes quite clearly said that he could not believe that she was still talking.

"Excellent!" Ellie clicked her fingers. "Motion passed!" After a few seconds of clearly considering whether it was worth arguing or not, 'Dutch' snorted, shaking his head.

Then he suddenly stopped dead. Ellie looked up at him in alarm, opening her mouth to ask_ what in sam hill...?_ He gestured for her to be quiet. Then she heard it too. She cocked her head slightly to one side and frowned, ears straining to try and figure out what the noise was; passing traffic? _No_, she realised as her heart jumped into her throat, _voices_! Dutch stopped at this bend in the corridor, also listening intently to the noise. He peered subtly around the corner, small eyes scanning the room beyond carefully, his gun ready. Ellie followed suit, looking around his beefy arm.

"There is no competition between numbers here." Dutch said quietly. "How would you like to proceed?"

"I think even Batman would have trouble with this one." The hulking grey figures moved with swift efficiency, some on control panels, others patrolling with their formidable guns between their claws; as a conquering militia they certainly inspired fear. However, to Ellie, they somehow looked less menacing than they had. After all, they were carbon copies of the alien scanning the room next to her, wondering how on _Dark Aster _they were going to pull this off.

"Cookie bribe?" She whispered.

"What kind of manoeuvre is that?" Dutch hissed, but Ellie never got a chance to answer him.

It began suddenly and with violent intensity. The rumbling seemed to be coming from everywhere; to the sides, above and below them. The walls trembled with the force. Alien heads raised in alarm. Human mouths swore profusely.

"What is that?" Ellie failed to keep the tremor from her voice.

"The sounds of conflict." Dutch raised his large head to the shining black ceiling as it quaked again. "The _Dark Aster_ is being attacked!"

Ellie watched him for signs of kidding, but there were none. _By what? By whom? _Her mind was whizzing.

On the opposite side of the control room a door sprang open. A grey guard came in, howling something loudly in his language, gesturing wildly. The movement began at once. They rattled on in guttural alien as they went, those not armed arming themselves swiftly. They shuffled quickly into a two by two formation, guns across their chests, before marching out the door on the opposite wall, their feet clunking across the shining floor.

_What luck! _Ellie thought somewhat giddily as she watched them go. _I'm totally getting a Euro millions ticket when I get home. _The door on the opposite wall hissed shut as the last ninja turtle disappeared through its gaping black jaws.

"Come on." Dutch said quietly, "Stay behind me."

"Don't mind if I do big guy." They crept quietly around the corner and into the control room, Ellie treading as though the entire floor was rigged with explosives. Dutch looked to his left, right, up to the ceiling, beneath the control panels; pointing his gun into every shadow and crevice. Ellie sensed it would be a while before he was satisfied, and so took to the window in the control room, looking to the space above and Xandar below. Between them a battle raged. Ellie watched open mouthed the dogfight before her; a flashing mass of colour, light and sound. An explosion rocketed outside the window, billowing smoke, flames and debris catapulted into the side of the _Dark Aster_ causing her to cringe. She opened her eyes again just in time to see it whiz victoriously past, glorious in the Xandarian sun.

Ellie would have recognised the butterfly wing design anywhere.

"It's Quill's crew!" She said shrilly. "Ravagers United! The Quillettes!"

"Ravagers?" Dutch sounded confused. "Defending Xandar?"

"Quill must've spun it somehow; he's a demi-ravager himself. There's some selfish motivation involved in there somewhere, no doubt, but right now I don't care." Ellie's heart felt considerably lighter, and she couldn't stop grinning; she saw no reason not to. "I think our situation has just improved."

"How so?"

"We're not alone anymore!" She said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "Now come on; there must be things we can do from here to help!"

Apparently satisfied that monsters weren't hiding in the shadows ready to kill them, Dutch lowered his gun.

"I will hack into the port shield controls. This may take some time." Dutch looked down at the control panel before him, opening a database with one prod of his claw. "I take it you will be able to hold this?" He held out the colossal gun to her.

"Oh, yeah…right! Hahaha…" Ellie took the gun in one hand and stumbled. "Man, this is a lot heavier than I thought it would be!"

"Most things are."

Dutch set about his work straight away, leaving Ellie to stand by, whistling. _The only things I know about hacking are from movies._ From the images on the screen and the many many symbols skating across them, Ellie had absolutely no indication as to what the hell was going on; only when Dutch began to mutter derisively in alien did she know that it probably wasn't going too well.

This became a certainty when the alarms began.

"Heck in a hand basket! What is that _awful_ noise?" She yelled.

"The boarding alarm; the _Dark Aster_ must have been boarded." Dutch didn't hesitate in his work. "This has never happened before." He added calmly.

"No time like the present, mate." Ellie scowled up at the ceiling, the screeching alarm rattling her bones. She shifted the gun to rest in her other arm. "I can see how that might get annoying after a while."

Dutch carried on with his button pressing. "Among other things."

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that." Ellie shifted the gun again, her arms not appreciating the manual labour. Then perhaps the first thing that should have occurred to Ellie finally occurred to her. _A planet is at risk here. Why shouldn't I be certain about stuff? _"Hold the phone. Before we go any further I need you to tell me something first." Dutch stopped his typing on the control panel. Ellie took this as her cue to continue. "Why did you help me? Why are you doing this? It can't be because of my good looks."

"You are correct in thinking that this is not the reason." The typing commenced again.

"I'm mortally offended." She harrumphed. "But seriously, why? Isn't Ronan paying you enough? Is the pension no good?"

Silence paced around the control room. Ellie kept her nerve and looked right into Dutch's eyes. There was a lot in those eyes that Ellie hadn't noticed until now, lots of memories, a past swimming among all the protocol and precedent. Identifying disquiet on that alien face was a challenge at the best of times, but Ellie saw it none the less.

He let out a hiss.

"I have been seeking…" His tone was halting. "I am seeking…I seek-"

"Yeah?" Ellie prompted.

The ship gave another violent lurch to the left, the booming of gunfire against the ships hide intensifying.

"Whoa Nellie!" Ellie squeaked as she crashed to the ground with the blast, the gun spiraling across the floor away from her and out of sight. Dutch fell from the control panel, swearing colorfully. Cushioning herself with one arm and feeling the spread of bruises, Ellie raised her head to look over the fallen form of Dutch and up at the surveillance screen.

Just in time to see the Guardians of the Galaxy march across it.


	17. Battlefield Aster

Ellie briefly watched as Dutch squinted down at the screen suspiciously, his gun between his hands, before she jumped into an improvised dance move. Dutch flinched violently at the sudden movement.

"What are-?"

"They're here! They're really here! Who've thought that those thieves would see the bigger picture in the end? This is so fantastic! If I were in a cinema I would be so excited right now!"

"_This_ is not excitement?" Dutch hissed, bewildered.

"Hush you." Ellie said, calming herself down. "Now, you are my map: which direction were they headed in?"

"It looks as though they were on course to docking bay seventeen: from here that is down this corridor," Dutch pointed one finger beyond the control panel, "and then onwards for a while and then left-"

"Cushy. As they say: _up and at 'em!_" Shutting down the control panel, Dutch Looked confused. "Let's go." Ellie added with a sigh. _This guy really needs some Ellie/Terran education._

In the ensuing parkour, Ellie was never more grateful to have a guide with her. Had she escaped on her own, she would have been hopelessly lost instantly; all the walls of the Dark Aster looked the same. Left, right, right, left again…Every corridor held that aura of doom and gloom that had Ellie wondering if she was going to bump into Emperor Palpatine or Darth Vader around one of these corners._ And there's no Luke Skywalker to help. Damn!_ Thankfully, neither of these scary men materialised as they dashed towards their destination. However, that's not to say that nothing materialised.

_Clump, clump, clump. _Ellie cocked her head, listening. Dutch skidded to a halt. It was the thundering of many heavy pairs of feet. Dutch pulled Ellie back around the corner and behind him, raising his gun in case of discovery. Ellie peered at the masses of grey bodies that paraded past, their speed and obvious strength terrifying as they marched to war; unaware of the two of them hiding just around the corner. They waited a moment, hearts in their mouths, before continuing on as the steady beat of the regiments feet faded away into the bowels of the ship.

"Shoot, that was close!" Ellie let out a breathy laugh as they ran down the corridor. "Can you imagine what would have happened if they'd got us?"

"I imagine that you would be back in the hands of the Accuser and I would have been shot." Dutch said placidly. His pace increased and he sped ahead, gun held aloft. Ellie wisely decided to shut up, instead straining her ears for the slightest sound.

It started quietly at first, but the faster and further they ran into the ship the louder it got. It bounced off the walls of the Dark Aster, right back to them, rumbling and quaking. Dutch narrowed his eyes.

"Gunfire." He said.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "I'm so glad I have you here to tell me these things. I never would have figured it out by myself-" Dutch snorted, cutting her off.

"If your friends are as much trouble as you, they should be near any sounds of discord." He waved her on. "Towards the noise. Quickly!"

Sprinting down the corridors, Ellie followed the sounds of the echoes, listening to them getting louder and louder: the closer she got, the more sense they made. Through the gunfire she could hear the sound of yelling now: human yells, inhuman yells… not to mention a very familiar roar…_Groot! My favourite animated tree humanoid! _Ellie ran faster, overtaking Dutch as they rounded the corner to the docking bay.

A mass of action filled Ellie's vision from top to bottom, so much for a moment she was knocked for a loop. _Whoa… _Ronan's cronies were everywhere, and among the mass of grey was…

Quill shot past her, airborne. Ellie watched open mouthed as he shot two of the cronies with each of his guns whist flying through the air towards them, before slamming his rocket boots into the chests of two others, sending them into the docking bay wall; they slid down and didn't get up again. Groot stood at his full height, taking out five guards with one sweep of an arm, letting out a battle cry as he did so. Quill twirled up from the floor again (_like a ballerina! _Ellie thought with a giggle) and slammed the butt of his gun into the face of another cronie as he tried to shoot him, overpowering him instantly.

With a roar Drax entered Ellie's line of vision, his knives long lost in the battle. He cornered one of the last opponents standing, slamming him up against the nearest wall. Ellie suddenly recognised the cyborg as being Ronan's right-hand Man-Bot.

Quill took out the last of the guard with one shot. The cyborg stared into the furious eyes of Drax, terrified. Drax hooked his free hand into a protruding piece of metal in the cyborg's skull.

"Finger to the throat means _death_!"

With one tug of his massive hand, Drax yanked off the protruding piece of skull with a deafening screech of metal. The guard's body jerked around spastically as he sank to the floor, electricity crackling in his head as the smoke poured out of the hole, effectively ending his life. Drax looked around at Quill, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Metaphor." He said triumphantly, tossing down the fragment of metal skull.

"Sorta." Quill's voice was muffled under the mask.

"Drax! You didn't drown in the gloopy yellow custard of death!"

Three pairs of eyes widened in surprise. Standing by the entrance to the docking bay with her hair sticking up and dirt on her knees, Ellie knew she must look terrible, but at that point she couldn't give two pence about it.

"Kid!" Quill's voice was the epitome of shock. One flick of his hand behind his ear deactivated his mask, his eyes wide with disbelief. "You're not a goner!" Ellie snorted.

"Not since I last checked, no." she said. Quill sheathed one of his guns and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

Ellie was suddenly enveloped in a flash of bark and leaves.

"Whoa, hey big guy! It's nice to see you too!" Ellie returned the hug, patting Groot on one of his enormous shoulders. "I'm sorry I wandered off."

"I am Groot." He said fondly, setting her back on her feet.

"You alright?" Quill called, the shock ebbing off his face. "That blue bastard, he didn't hurt you-?"

"No, I'm good! Wait – where's Rocket? Gamora?" Ellie's heart turned icy. "Oh snap, something didn't happen did it-?"

Quill shook his head. "Nah, kid. Gamora's getting the blast doors to the bridge open, and the fuzzball's leading the offense outside alongside the Nova Corps; the little bugger had better take care of that ship." He added with a mutter.

The sound of many footsteps was sudden. Ellie wheeled around, staring into the entranceway from which she had just come, which was fast becoming densely populated. Guard after guard marched into view, menacingly taking in the scene of carnage, their armour formidable: claws tensed around their weapons. The thirty or so of them raised their guns, cocking them, ready.

Ellie, now being a master of the battlefield, employed her tactical skills to combat the threat.

"We surrender!" She yelled, throwing her hands in the air. Quill rolled his eyes. Groot stepped in front of her, raising one arm up.

Groot's arm, now sharp as a spear, shot out from his body, spearing an entire row of the approaching guard: their weapons fell harmlessly from their hands. Ellie watched open mouthed as Groot lifted about ten guards off their feet, impaled upon his protruding arm. With an animalistic cry, Groot began the pummelling. Arms flailed as their bodies slammed into the sides and ceiling of the entranceway, knocking the guards still standing plain off their feet. Groot roared as he knocked guard after guard unconscious, his arm going up, down, left, right. Ellie glanced back at Drax, who gave an appreciative nod and grin in Quill's direction. _Stamp. Drax's seal of approval. _Finally, with a violent jerk of his arm, Groot pulled his arm back out and to its normal size, scattering the bodies of Ronan's guard all over the entranceway nilly willy. He turned back to face them all, a bright smile on his face.

"Groot my man, that was _mental_!" Ellie whispered.

"Whoa hey, look out: there's one left!" Quill suddenly called, reaching for his gun.

Dutch's gun clattered to the floor as he retreated, pressing himself into the wall of the Dark Aster. Groot advanced menacingly, one arm raising and lengthening into a sharp point…

"Hey, Groot, no, _no_! He's with me! He's my…" Throwing herself in Groot's path, Ellie flailed for words for a moment. "My friend. I guess. Don't shish kebab him please!" Groot blinked, confused.

"Guys, this is Dutch. I named him myself."

Quill snorted. "Is he your pet or something?"

"Very funny. No, he got me out of my cell after Ronan had finished posing everywhere."

"He is an enemy!" Drax growled. "I have slayed many of his kind before."

Drax strode past Groot with speed that made a creature his size frightening: one enormous hand shot out with lightning speed, fastening itself around Dutch's neck.

"One more is of no consequence." Drax finished.

Ellie gasped and made to run to Drax, but one leafy arm held her back. In the grip of Drax's powerful hand, Dutch stayed very still, not moving, hardly seeming to be breathing. His hands stayed by his sides, his gaze measured and calm and he looked up at Drax from his pinioned position.

"I am not like the kind you have slaughtered." He said. "I am not like them."

"Right, and I've not got a past conviction of illegally manipulating a Gramosian Duchess." Quill said sarcastically, but no one was listening.

Dutch still looked carefully into Drax's furious eyes, calm.

"I know what suffering those who appear to resemble me have wrought in the name of that madman: I was trained to do the same thing. But no more, no more. Perhaps you could stand above all this, and do me an honour by not judging by outward appearance or by the implications of a difficult past." Dutch said quietly. He broke eye contact with Drax to look over his shoulder. "Your friends seem to have done you this honour."

Drax's eyes widened in shock. He stared at Dutch for a long moment searching for any farce, before turning and looking back to where Ellie, Groot and Quill stood. Something flickered in his eyes. He turned back to Dutch then, looking down at the guard whose throat he held in a death grip: one squeeze, one measured amount of pressure on the throat here would suffice. That was it. That was all… But his vengeance was gone. All that remained were his…his _friends_.

Drax released his grip. "Let us finish this. Now!" He said.

"I am Groot." Groot said in agreement, loping into pace with Drax as they rushed through the exit from the docking bay.

"Alrighty!" Ellie clapped her hands, laughing with her shattered nerves. She dashed after them, Quill and Dutch on her heels. "To the bridge, right? Go team! Oh, by the way," She added as Quill caught up to her. "Ronan _just may _have harnessed the power of the infinity stone. He's got this crazy purple mojo on his side now, and Thanos is really hopping mad about it. I don't think even a tub of _Ben and Jerry's_ could calm him down now."

"Yeah, we figured as much. That's why we brought _this_." With a wide grin, Quill patted the enormous contraption attached to his chest. Ellie noted the protruding metal. "This is gonna put an end to that maniac once and for all, _waaayy_ before he even gets close to Xandar's surface. With a missile."

"Yeah, well, I hope you're right. Ronan is one emo too many in this galaxy."

Dutch eyed the enormous weapon for a moment, before scoffing and shaking his head, moving his gun to his other arm.

"That mechanism will do nothing against Ronan; not now that he has the power of the infinity stone. With it, he is invincible."

"I am Groot." Groot echoed from in front, sounding like he agreed with Dutch.

"Come on; let's have a little positivity around here." Quill muttered, defensively shifting his weapon. "Be sure to stay out of the way when the shooting starts, kid. It's been like an old western all day."

"Do you feel lucky, _punk_?" Ellie said jovially. She was rewarded with a blank stare.

"Thanks Chris. I'm totally wasted here!" Ellie said before crashing into the back of Drax. She shook her head, dazed for a moment, before realising why they had all stopped and started to stare down the corridor. Towering before them was the massive door to the bridge, sealed with airtight ease, flanked by a multitude of Ronan's guard.

Their little eyes roamed across them all, taken by surprise. Then they spotted Dutch at Ellie's shoulder. The closest guard's alien mouth somehow twisted into a sneer.

"_Traitor_!" The guard hissed. Quick as a wink, Dutch flipped out his gun, smartly silencing the guard forever.

"_Pew pew_!" Quill said as he took down two more of them with separate bullets, nodding in approval as Dutch took down a third and Drax and Groot proceeded to pummel the remaining guards. _I'm extremely useless right now, _Ellie thought glumly as she watched the show. A laser bullet ricocheted close to her head.

"Holy Moly!"

"Come on!" Drax's roar echoed down the corridor as he threw the last guard to the floor.

The door to the bridge sprang open.

Now confident in their destinies, they all piled through the door as fast as it could, as though it were about to chomp shut again any minute: Ellie followed hard on Drax's heels while Dutch soared in behind her, his eyes wildly checking every nook and cranny while Quill dashed inside, readying the all-important weapon. _The bridge is ours! _Ellie thought triumphantly, resisting the temptation to do her Spartan war cry.

A blast to the right shattered a hole in the bridge floor, debris spurting everywhere: Gamora flew upwards through the hole in the rubble, gun in arm, face determined.

Drax and Groot stood shoulder to shoulder, fists raised, staring forward: ready. Dutch raised his gun.

Quill stood at the centre, legs braced against the floor of the bridge, hands either side of the rocket launcher strapped to his chest, so taut his knuckles were white.

_We are so badass! _Ellie thought as she dashed to stand beside Quill, before instantly retreating to stand behind Quill when she saw who was standing on the bridge. _Oh mother!_

The view of the battle from the bridge was flawless. The many stars of the Nova Corps' ships whizzed past like flies, twisting and turning among the nercocraft pilots and the ravager's crew: shots peppered the air, ships of all sizes cascading to the planet's surface in flames. However, this was far from being the most terrifying thing. The omniscient overseer turned from the tide of battle before him, the infinity stone glowing its malicious purple over the bridge, the same glow that emitted from his piercing eyes.

His eyes narrowed.

Quill braced his hand on the trigger. Ellie jammed her hands over her ears. The force of the blast from the cannon ran throughout Quill's body as he aimed, releasing the missile that was to solve every problem that they had. _Except world hunger. And Isis. _Ellie thought.

Still as a dead man, Ronan cocked his head slightly like a child in thought, watching the missile steadily progress: right into his heavily armoured chest. Ellie squeezed her eyes shut.

The shockwave from the blast made Ellie's teeth rattle in her skull as the whole bridge seemed to shake with the impact. She stumbled back a few steps, almost falling over; a hand shot out to her shoulder to steady her. Opening her eyes she saw smoke everywhere, just grey and more grey.

"You did it!" Drax's proclamation echoed around the bridge.

"Yeah, you successfully convinced Ronan to take up chain smoking. Nice work Quill!" She coughed, tasting the smoking air with disgust. Dutch's hand was still on her shoulder, steadying her in case her knees gave out. "Is Angry Smurf past his expiry date?" She asked him.

Dutch made a noise as if to answer her, but then he stopped, his eyes leaving her face to stare forwards again. His reptilian eyes widened. The look of horror on his extra-terrestrial face chilled her to the bone. Her head snapped back to look at the bridge once more.

Ronan was moving. Not only that, he was rising up out of the smoke like some horrible monster, his hammer still in hand and the infinity stone still very much at his service. _Oh crap, don't tell me he doesn't have an expiry date? He can't be like long life milk can he? The universe isn't that cruel…_

She looked up at Quill. Fearful disbelief was dawning on his face.

Ronan stood to his full height once more, and Ellie could see there was not a scratch on him, not even on the breastplate that had taken the brunt of the blow. The smoke curled around him ominously, framing him like a demon. He looked at them all in the way a man would look at the vermin in the gutter, his black and blue face now a petrifying image of fury. _Now he's really pissed._ Ellie felt her hands begin to shake, and she fought the urge to hide herself completely behind Quill. His strange purple eyes found hers as she peered around Quill's arm. _Oh Boy. _Ronan raised his hammer withone formidably strong arm, staring at her face: the infinity stone glittered, waiting for his command.

_Where is Deus Ex Machina when you need it? _Ellie couldn't help it: she reflexively flipped off the universe for its abhorrent sense of humour.

* * *

**Hello folks! Sorry about the long delay: University does ask for a lot of my time! A very Happy New Year to you all! - Sarah**


	18. The Final (It'd Better Be!) Judgement

The ravagers spun above the glittering surface of Xandar, dodging and weaving like spooked birds as the bullets from the thousand necrocraft showered down upon them, joining the empty shells of the broken Nova Corps on the planet's surface. The ravagers too returned their own fire, destroying ship after ship as they plummeted towards the planet's surface, demonstrative of Ronan's immolation initiative in full force. The once pristine white sight was now blemished with scorch marks and debris, a skeleton of its former civility and glory. Fire was licking its way up one building, thick smoke billowing through the air as a lone Nova Corps pilot stumbled away from the wreckage of her ship, her eyes wild.

High up in the _Dark Aster_, Ellie registered none of this.

If it hadn't been for Dutch's claw on her shoulder, she was certain she would have fallen to her knees, keeled over in shock and fear, every part of her shaking: those glittering purple orbs had found her yet again. Her blood froze in her veins as she gauged all the emotions inside them. Quill's face fell in disbelief as his grip stiffened on the weapon strapped to him, the purple power of the infinity stone flashing across its metal hide.

"Whoa Nellie," Ellie moaned quietly. Dutch's grip on her shoulder tightened. Ronan's eyes narrowed. _He's going to go ape-shit, _Ellie thought with absolute certainty_._

The Kree warrior was at his full height again, a terror in his black armour. The infinity energy pulsed in the black stone of his War hammer as he raised it up, pointing it at the intruders on his bridge. With a single look of contempt, he abruptly twisted it.

Like an invisible fist, the power slammed into the Guardians of the Galaxy, sending them flying backwards across the bridge, flailing helplessly through the air. Ellie gave a gasp of horror at its terrible power as she smashed into the smooth, black floor, her weight slamming into her shoulder and upper arm. _That's gonna hurt in the morning. _She felt the air whoosh out of her again as Dutch's journey also ended; right on top of her.

"Oof!" She said at the impact, "Has someone been sneaking the Pork Pies?"

"Shit!" Came Quill's voice through the dust. He was de-tangling himself from the weapon he had attached to himself, now useless. Gamora and Groot were also sprawled all over the bridge, groaning.

"Don't panic!" Ellie called from underneath Dutch, being super hypocritical, "There's more than one way to skin a cat. Or a Smurf. Or a terrorist. Well, just anything really." She wriggled under Dutch's much larger body, coughing.

The muscular form of Drax shot by through the flying dust.

"Drax, no!" Ellie cried. _Talk about short term memory! _Crawling out from under Dutch as he sat up complaining, she wildly looked around to make sure there were no giant tubs of yellow goo within throwing distance. She inhaled dust from the floor and coughed again. Dutch watched on with horror as Ronan noted Drax's progress towards him, a bored look on his face.

"Raaarg!" Drax roared as he charged Ronan at incredible speed. His brought one of his large fists up, raising it to connect with Ronan's malevolent face, still howling. The Accuser barely seemed to move at all as he raised his free hand to block it, quickly finding purchase around Drax's neck. His purple eyes glowed with the stones malice.

"I was mistaken." He hissed, looking up at the squirming Drax with malevolence. "I _do_ remember your family. Their screams were _pitiful, _and –"

Ellie caught a brief glimpse of the orange and blue outline of a ravager's ship making a beeline right for them at incredible speed. The pilot was yelling. Ellie was distantly reminded of Rocket. She felt someone grab the back of her T shirt.

The hull of the _Dark Aster's_ bridge shattered at the impact of the ravager ship, splintering everywhere in large deadly blocks, black stone and metal spinning out of control. Ellie tumbled to the ground, curled up into a ball, squeezed her eyes shut and threw her arms over her head. _God, Jesus, Mary, Flying Spaghetti Monster: help me! _Something smashed near her head; a chunk of metal? Something was screeching very loudly and alarms were bellowing. The entire ship seemed to be rumbling and quaking, even as the rock fall slowly began to subside, the dust clearing to 'just breathable.' Ellie grumbled. _This is _so _not what I wanted to do today!_

Ellie opened her eyes briefly, closed them, and opened them again. The dust was blinding. She felt someone gain purchase on the back of her jacket, hauling her carefully to her feet. Her head was spinning as she stood, groaning.

"Are you harmed?" Dutch's alien drawl asked.

"A bit bruised, but otherwise I'm dandy." Ellie rubbed her head, realising she was covered with debris. "Huh, I'm going to need to moisturise after this!" She started to laugh but inhaled a load of dust, and so had to make do with a coughing fit.

"Everyone alright?" Came Quill's voice.

Gamora came into view, dragging an unconscious Drax away with some difficulty from the smoking remains of the Ravager ship, neatly followed by Quill who was cradling an equally unconscious Rocket. The racoon was blissfully unaware that he had just saved all their lives with his stupidity. Groot was kneeling by them as they all crouched on the floor, his large brown eyes wide with worry.

"Yeah!" Ellie replied, wading through the mess and coming to rest beside Groot. "Is the smurf out for the count?"

"Bloody better be." Quill muttered, before glancing sharply at the ceiling. A large piece of it fell away and crashed to their left. Spidery cracks were making their way up the walls as they shook, a deep rumbling noise accompanying it.

"Please tell me that's just the central heating system?" Ellie whined.

"This ship's going down." Quill said with certainty.

"Well hell." Ellie said into the silence. No one responded.

As another piece of the ceiling fell and collided with the bridge even closer to them, Ellie inhaled sharply and jumped backwards into Groot's chest, subconsciously winding her arms around one of his in fear. Groot looked down at her forlornly, at her pale little face and saw how her hands were shaking. Looking up at him, she saw the concern in his enormous brown eyes.

"Hey, don't worry about me old chap!" Ellie tried for a grin through chattering teeth. Groot looked at her for a long moment, pondering. The cracks in the walls were beginning to spread to the ceiling, spindly lines stretching as far as they could. Decision came into his eyes, along with a deep profound sadness. He nodded to himself.

Groot's arms and back had begun to lengthen and change, curling round them all in a protective way, like a mother to her child. Ellie quickly unwound herself from Groot's arm, staring in amazement at its progress. _I wish my allotment did as well as that_! She couldn't help thinking. The little brown twigs wound themselves around each other, sprouting little olive green leaves as they went, embracing them all: Quill, Gamora and Dutch all looked on, also astonished as Groot blocked the morbid _Dark Aster_ from view with a refreshing and natural sight. He was wrapping them in his very body, protecting them. In the last moment before they were plunged into darkness, Groot held out a few elegant twigs.

From them what resembled the most beautiful little fireflies danced into their midst, filling the enclosed cocoon with a warm golden glow. Ellie looked on entranced as they became reflected in all of their eyes, and a strange sense of peace came over her. _It's just like Avatar_. Rocket opened his eyes blearily to be greeted by the glittering sight, the lights dancing across his fur gently. Then the doziness melted away to be replaced by fear and grief as he realised what his friend was doing. He squirmed out of Quill's arms and dashed to Groot, placing one paw on his chest.

"No Groot! You can't! You'll die! _Why are you doing this_?" His voice broke as he looked into Groot's forlorn face. "Why?" A small twig appendage reached out, catching the single tear as it fell down Rocket's face. Groot slowly looked at each of them in turn, his wide brown eyes sage and sad.

"_We_ are Groot."

The _Dark Aster _plummeted to Xandar with thick, black smoke billowing out behind it like a grotesque cape; cutting through the crystal Xandarian air like an enormous black bird. Missing the Nova Corps headquarters by mere feet, it crashed into the Xandarian city below. Levelling buildings, turning marble and stone alike to dust, the engines of the warship that had been loathed and feared across the galaxy for as long as anyone could remember finally went quiet.

* * *

_Owie. _Was Ellie's first thought.

"_Ooh child, things are gonna be easier!" _Ellie raised her head in confusion at the unfamiliar sound, _What on earth..?_ Ellie found herself looking at a broken fragment from Quill's destroyed Ravager ship, wedged into the Xandarian rubble._ "Ooh child things will get brighter!"_ Trilled the half broken radio. The heat of a sun was against her back and the top of her head, reflecting glaringly off the white wreckage of a Xandarian building that Ellie found herself kneeling in, the ruins of the _Dark Aster_ looming to the left. Blue sky was above her, cleaner air around her. Rocket was sitting on a pile of grey stone, cradling a single twig in his paws.

"I called him an idiot." He whispered brokenly. Ellie suddenly realised what he meant.

"Groot?" She asked tearfully, looking at the twig in Rocket's paws.

"_Someday!" _The song ploughed on through the destruction, paying their grief no mind. Xandarians had begun to gather around the wreckage, wary and muttering among themselves, pointing at the survivors.

Drax was sprawled near Rocket and was beginning to stir, while Quill was half standing and looking around blearily in the bright sunlight. Gamora was near to Ellie, and when their eyes met, she gave Ellie a little reassuring nod from her place in the ruins. Then Gamora's expression changed entirely. To fear. Ellie's stomach turned over and she quickly looked in the direction Gamora was looking.

Out of a jagged hole torn into the hull of the _Dark Aster_ strode the galaxy's most eligible genocide perpetuator. Ronan stood tall and formidable on the rubble of Xandar, his Warhammer in hand and the infinity stone glowing brightly. He was smiling maliciously. Ellie held back a very unmacho yelp. _Holy balony this guy never quits!_

Ronan's eyes found her again. Ellie felt as though those piercing eyes were looking right through to her naked soul, at her very being. She flashed hot and cold all over and felt sweat from terror beginning to pool at the edges of her hair. Ronan it seemed could not be more delighted. He stood on the planet he detested breathing in the air he detested, and he held in one war worn hand the means to eradicate it. His hateful joy as he looked at Ellie told her all she needed to know.

As far as he was concerned, his victory was complete.

"You killed Groot!" Rocket bawled, his voice was filled with rage. He launched his little furry body at the Accuser to do Ellie did not know what, but she never found out. With a careless flick of his Warhammer, Ronan sent him sprawling back over the rubble in a burst of purple energy without the slightest change of expression. With his malicious smile he looked from Ellie to the Xandarian people, who shrieked and trembled as the demon armed with the power of worlds stood before them, ready to tear their world apart.

"Behold, your 'Guardians of the Galaxy!'" Ronan called mockingly to them. "What fruits have they wrought? Only that my father and his father shall finally know vengeance!"

"Smurphy, don't!" Ellie heard the desperate words before she realised they has escaped from her. She desperately began to crawl through the rubble, finding her feet unsteadily almost at the same time as Quill, who yanked himself up, looking at a loss as to what he should do.

"People of Xandar, the time has come to rejoice and renounce your poultry gods!" Ronan roared, savouring every word. He looked back at Ellie, the spiteful smile fading in favour of a mask of determination. He held his colossal Warhammer one hand with ease, his new power now feeling natural to him: with his other hand he made a flippant gesture, one which looked almost out of place when paired with the powerful warlord.

"Come here." Was all he said. Ellie's eyes widened in disbelief. When he didn't relent, she shook her head violently.

Ronan's entire face darkened.

"As you wish." His voice was so quiet, Ellie wondered for a moment if he had even spoken. Before she could dispute it, Ronan turned back to the Xandarians.

"Your salvation is at hand!" He roared, wielding his Warhammer high. The purple glow from the infinity stone seemed to intensify, trembling at the prospect of so much delicious destruction. The Xandarians began to cry out. Ellie watched one mother and daughter embrace in terror and felt her own terror mount like a sickness. She imagined the black Warhammer crashing into the earth, the purple energy spreading through the ground and air like a virus, killing her, killing them all. _I won't have to imagine much longer. _She squeezed both her eyes shut._ Goodbye cruel movie/real world!_

"'Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier!" Ellie cracked open one eye in surprise. "Ooh child, things will get brighter!'"

"You listen to these words!" Quill called, pointing at Ronan.

"'Ooh child, things are gonna get easier! Ooh child things will get brighter!' Then bring it down hard!" Quill busted a combined effort with his arms and legs, dancing and singing right there in the shadow of the _Dark Aster_; the shadow of death itself. "Someday..!" He sang along energetically. _Huh._ Ellie thought._ He's really going for it. _

Ronan slowly lowered his hammer, watching Quill's antics. His painted brow had become knitted in confusion.

"What are you doing?" He said in a tone Ellie had never heard him use before. In his confused state, the maniac sounded half way normal.

She heard a clunk. Turning as subtly as she could, she watched as Rocket slipped a component into place into what looked like a rocket launcher. Drax was watching Rocket very carefully, his eyes alive.

"Dance off bro!" Quill called in glee. "Me and you!" Ronan looked on in confusion, his bloodthirsty rampage momentarily forgotten in light of the insanity of the boogie. "Gamora!" Quill said, flinging one hand out to the green alien, beckoning. She shook her head. Ronan shot a venomous look her way.

"Subtle, taking it back." Quill said quickly, twirling his hands away.

"What are you _doing_?" _Uh oh, he's getting pissed…_

"I'm distracting ya, you big turd blossom!"

A second passed, then Ronan's eyes widened in alarm at the sound of a rocket sliding into place in a contraption. He turned sharply. Drax stood tall with Quill's rocket launcher attached to his front. Rocket stood below him, a wire in each hand. With a single satisfied grin in Ronan's direction, Rocket attached the wires with one white spark, causing the launcher to erupt a single rocket: expertly aimed right into the brunt of Ronan's terrifying Warhammer.

The black stone hammer completely shattered on impact, poetically scattering like the _Dark Aster_ had done just minutes before. At his cue, Quill leapt as gracefully as a ravager could towards what remained in the air. The infinity stone glowed brightly in the Xandarian sun, freed from its morbid prison. Quill was reaching, his face contorted with effort. _Don't let it touch the ground! _Ellie thought. _Just like that game I played with balloons! _Ronan also moved the same way, his hand stretching out, black teeth gritted. There wasn't much in it – either one of them could reach it first…

"No!" Came the distant scream of Gamora.

Then, inexplicably, slowly, resonantly, the infinity stone changed its course.

Ellie watched with amazement as it flew not towards the Xandarian earth but through the air, away from Quill's and Ronan's outstretched hands. Towards her. She raised her hand to intercept it as though what was happening was the most natural thing in the galaxy. She forgot about the burning and ripping apart that was most likely to happen to her, about the fate of the pink alien on Knowhere, about everything she had been told. As her fist closed around the stone, the Guardians, the Accuser and all the Xandarians were thrown from their feet and to the ground as the infinity stones energy exploded around them. Almost instinctively, Ellie adopted her best 'Superman' pose. _Dear God. I. Am. A FRICKIN' JEDI!_

"Surprise, Motherf-"

The grinding sound of metal against metal sounded as an enormous portion of _the Dark Aster_ came loose from the main body, screeching its way down into the Xandarian earth with a decisive crash.

"Jesus Christ Christmas Cake!" Quill breathed, looking at her through the purple energy as he found his feet again. "Kid! You're…you're…"

Then, all at once, Ellie began to feel it. She looked down at her arms in wonder. They weren't cracking apart violently like the alien on Knowhere, nor could she feel pain; the power was glowing under her skin, easily a meshed in part of her. She felt frozen to the spot, the power pulsing through her was frightening and new; she felt as though she were above and yet within everything she could see, and was barely aware of the Accuser. _I feel like I can do anything. Absolutely anything…_ Then came the terror. _Holy hell!_ She felt like she was losing control. Like she was about to burst into tears. She forgot where she was standing, who stood around her and why anything was anything at all. The power within her, it felt _sentient_. Like it had its own will, one that was independent to hers. This intelligence was frightening and part of her. _I'm going mad, _she thought with conviction. She felt her eyes begin to water.

Ronan was watching her closely, his eyes coldly calculating her every move and her every glance; waiting. He watched the way her eyes moved, the pulsing of the infinity stones power, the rhythm of her breathing. He was wary, but he was not afraid, no. The infinity stone's power looked so right within her: she did not need a weapon to wield it. It was igniting ever part of her, seeing that her face was glowing and angelic. He wanted to prowl every nuance of her mind until it was familiar territory, and he felt an overwhelming and unfamiliar thirst to do so. He stepped forward carefully across the uneven debris, ignoring Xandarian and Guardian alike, his hand steadily reaching out for her arm, the pieces of his hammer forgotten. He knew of the stone's power, how it ripped and destroyed. Yet he reached.

Ellie suddenly felt a compulsion to look down at her feet, at the filthy rubble she stood on. At the first planet she had seen other than earth, the very first miracle. _Xandar. _The word pulsed through Ellie with the infinity stones power, and suddenly it made sense. _Beautiful, beautiful Xandar. As real as anything. _Her fear vanished. Her gaze snapped up to the approaching Accuser, the steadiest it had been since the whole party had begun. _Let's get ready to rumble!_

"You will come with me now." Ronan's voice resonated. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "I give you my word that Terra shall not come to any harm by me."

"That doesn't really hold much weight since your ship has clearly seen better days." Ellie pointed at the smoking remains of the _Dark Aster_.

"It is of no consequence. I have an entire fleet awaiting my command." Ellie didn't bother searching for any truth in those piercing eyes. Reading the Accuser was like trying to read '_Heart of Darkness_.

"And what about Xandar?" She asked fiercely. Ronan stopped dead. His eyes narrowed.

"They call me "terrorist," "radical," "zealot," simply because I obey the ancient laws of my people the Kree, and punish those who do not." He spoke slowly, considering each of his words carefully. He looked back rancorously at the watching Xandarians, some of whom were beginning to stand again.

"I do not forgive these people for taking the life of my father, and his father, and his father before him." The Kree warrior was fingering something at his belt. "A thousand years of war between us will not be forgotten!" He drew forth a cruelly curved looking sword, crudely shaped from some form of black metal. The sword sung as it was drawn forth, metal against metal, a song of maiming and bloodshed.

"I _will _cure them for their atrocities!"

"Oh for the love of Mike, Pete and God!" Ronan turned from the Xandarians, his brow furrowed slightly at the strange expression, the sword lowering slightly.

"You know something, Smurphy? I'm getting damn sick of you." _Buuuurn!_ Ronan blinked once at her frankness before she continued. "How many fathers have you killed, Ronan? How many atrocities have you committed? I said it before, your logic is hopelessly flawed and really, honestly, kind of crap: you weren't listening to a word I said before, were you? You're crazy if you think I'm going _anywhere_ with you, man!" Ellie spread her arms wide in exasperation, still holding tightly to the stone. "I'm sorry, but you're just not my type."

"It was not a request." Ronan switched his grip on his sword, brandishing it more threateningly. "You _will _come with me."

"Or what?" Ellie asked, wishing straight away that she hadn't.

"Or I will _cure _you!"

"Ooh thank you! My foot cramps have been bothering me for ages!"

Ronan stayed still for only another second. Moving with incredible speed for his size and flexing his enormous muscles, he let out a deep battle cry as he brought his sword into the air, his face a picture of warlike rage. It was the same battle cry that had been the last thing many had heard: how many Xandarians? Drax's wife and daughter too? He let out another deep roar as he swung the sword, aiming for the small arm that held the much sought after stone. Dutch cried out and started to make his way towards Ellie, followed by Drax and Rocket, sliding around on the debris, but they were too far away. Gamora yelled again and Quill reached for his guns, only to find they weren't there. Every face was horrified.

Ellie opened her palm.

The omnipotent Accuser was thrown backwards straight away, the sword that had taken months to forge was crushed against the infinity stone's power, clattering to the ground in many pieces at Ellie's feet. Ronan's armour met stone with an ear splitting crash, his headdress struck the ground with enough force to induce brain damage: the stone cracked and trembled at the impact. He raised his head from the ground, dazed, his eyes so wide all the white could be seen. Ellie pointed the fist holding the infinity stone towards where he was crouching, as though she were holding a gun._ Boom! Taste of your own medicine! How'd you like _them_ apples? _She looked down at him. He looked up at her, his face unreadable.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to send you away instead: I _think_ it's within my power to do, I'm not sure. You may have noticed how new I am to all this." Ellie gave a small laugh, then noticing the look on Ronan's face, quickly continued. "Ronan the Accuser, for all the crimes you have committed against Xandar outside of wartime, the killings and destruction and for just generally being a massive dick, I'm going to pass judgement on you." Ellie looked for support from Gamora, who nodded once.

"Right. By the power that I _think_ has been invested in me, I'm gonna exile you from here to…somewhere else. Where you'll hopefully do less accusing."

Ellie instinctively knew when she had to do. Carefully, ensuring she did not drop it, she opened her fist again, exposing the stone in the palm of her hand: from it erupted unspeakable and yet controlled power, which made its way to Ronan at the speed of light. The purple power enveloped the kree warrior, and though he struggled against it he did not cry out in pain, only in frustration. It wasn't hurting his body, only his pride. As he began to disappear, Ellie caught a final glimpse of Ronan's eyes, filled with an anguish she did not understand, before he vanished with a scream of fury, leaving behind only the smoking remains of his Warhammer. A symbol of a terrifying power now broken.

Regaining her grip on the stone, Ellie stared at the place where the bane of her life had crouched not moments ago.

"I guess it can do more than just destroy." Ellie said quietly to herself. She heard a huffing next to her. Gamora had raced up to her the instant Ronan had vanished.

"We need to put the stone back into the orb!" she said urgently.

"Where'd blue man go?" Quill called as he ran over with the orb, "Is he dead?"

"No he's not dead: I'm not killing him. That's not my style. Besides, I'm willing to bet a load of fangirls and boys will be disappointed if he doesn't return in the next one."

"The next what?" Dutch asked.

"The…oh." Ellie grinned broadly to try and hide her awkwardness. "Ha, ha; don't mind me, just talking away to myself again. He he ho ho."

"Riiiiiiight." Quill shook his head.

"This is no time for talking!" Gamora cried. "Put the stone back in the orb, now!"

"Sure, sure. Just one minute." Ellie said. She turned to the ruins of the _Dark Aster, _surveying the blot on perfection. She looked down at the stone in her hand. "This thing has a reputation of destruction, but I think it can do just as well as a tool of creation. That's balance. The way of things."

She held out the stone towards the Dark Aster with the Guardians of the Galaxy standing beside her, not saying a word; each set of war-worn eyes just watching. Ellie breathed evenly, carefully, ensuring she had a firm grip on things: then she let go.

The purple light of the infinity stone gently caressed the earth surrounding the Dark Aster, changing the rubble to the epitome of fertility, inviting the vines, so green and full, to climb. Slowly at first and then faster they appeared, gracefully gliding to their full heights. From the earth, as the Xandarians and Guardians alike looked on in wonder and growing hope, grew thousands upon thousands of plants and vines of all sizes and breed: they climbed the hull of the ship without fear, born on a day of victory. They were an explosion of colours, obscuring the gloomy _Dark Aster_ from sight, creating a picture of reds, greens and blues. They flowered before the eyes of thousands, sweeping away all fears of death and pain, inspiring joy and hope. The Xandarians breathed out, a few even laughed in relief.

Once the _Dark Aster_ was completely out of sight, Ellie closed her hand on the stone again, holding its heat close by. She turned back to the Guardians. Quill looked slightly abashed, Gamora and Dutch looked entranced and Drax had a strange smile of approval on his face. Rocket looked at the flowers, grief stricken. The air began to smell sweet again.

"For Groot." Ellie said as a way of explanation. Then, in front of everyone, she promptly burst into tears.


	19. The Fondest of Fond Farewells

"I'm not Terran?" Quill said in disbelief.

"Whoa." Ellie said in disbelief.

Disbelief was rife in the air. After all, once the Accuser had finished his disappearing act, everything had happened so fast.

Ellie's head had still not stopped spinning. The one and only Nova Prime had greeted them in the rubbled aftermath of the _Dark Aster_, but not before Quill had performed the old switch-a-roo with yet another blue _Smurphy_, one who had wanted the orb for himself. _No doubt to finally put an end to Gargamel the Evil Wizard's plotting schemes once and for all._ Yondu the Ravager had grinned, holding up the orb to Xandarian light before vanishing back into his ship with his Ravager cronies, unaware that his prize was nothing more than a _Troll Doll. _Inviting them all to the main Nova Corps headquarters, Nova Prime had taken the real orb and locked it safely away, hopefully where it would do less damage. _Good riddance._

So, therefore, at this precise moment, they all stood in Nova Prime's office, hands respectfully behind their backs, trying to look as upper class as possible. Ellie half expected to see enormous mounds of_ Ferrero Rochers_ around the room. _I am financial upper crust, I am financial upper crust…_she kept reminding herself frantically.

"…your mother was of earth." Nova Prime was saying. "Your father…well, he's something very ancient we've never seen here before."

Quill blinked blearily, temporarily thrown by this revelation. Gamora came up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That could be why you were able to hold the Stone for as long as you did." She reasoned.

"Yeah, that and all the other impossible stuff you've done." Ellie said snarkily.

"Before these events, we believed that all the power of the infinity stone could do was maim and destroy." Nova Prime said. "It has obviously transpired that we have much to learn. Ellie, when you harnessed the power of the infinities and sent Ronan away, do you have any idea where he may have ended up?"

"I'm sorry." Ellie said with a sigh. "I've got no idea where I – I mean the stone, sent him. He could be anywhere in the universe. For all I know he could have respawned in my back yard home on Terra!"

Ellie was suddenly enveloped by the mental image of Ronan the Accuser, blinking blearily in confusion as he spawned onto her patio, right next to her mother's Rhododendrons. It took all of her self-control not to snigger.

"I understand: please do not vex yourself." Nova Prime said. "We will dedicate a healthy portion of Xandar's resources to tracking down the location of the Accuser in order to bring him to justice, and end the threat of his atrocities once and for all."

"I still say you shouda killed the blue bastard." Rocket muttered at Ellie's elbow.

"It was hardly a 'needs must' moment." She muttered back. "I hardly knew what was happening!"

"What's new?" Rocket said. Ellie swatted him over the head good naturedly as he grinned, clutching a large plant pot protectively to his chest. In the centre of the pot was a single sprout. _But not just any sprout…_

"You know I didn't think it was possible, but Groot my man you've gotten even cuter!"

Little Groot started swaying backwards and forwards, waving his jazz hands as he went. _Oh God, cuteness overload! _His survival after the battle was all the reward Ellie needed for her ordeal. She reached out with one finger and shook baby Groot's little hand.

Ellie looked up just in time to see Nova Prime approach the hulking figure of Dutch for the first time. Her features betrayed no fear or discomfort.

"Are you named?" She asked.

"In a manner of speaking." Ellie heard Dutch mutter under his breath. "I have been given the name 'Dutch,'" He said, more loudly this time. "After a Terran hero I believe."

"Dutch," Nova Prime said, "I don't think there has ever been a case recorded like this, where one of the Accuser's own has fought for the greater good of others. Your movements may have very well saved millions. Therefore, for your heroic actions on behalf of the system of Xandar and its people, you are officially pardoned of all crimes of which you previously stood accused."

"Thank you, Nova Prime, for your generosity."

"You may go wherever you wish." Nova Prime said with a smile. "I would however like to make a proposal. While the threat of the infinity stone is temporarily no more, as I stated before, a hunt for Ronan the Accuser is necessary. I believe that your sensitive knowledge of the intimate workings of his organisation may provide us with the clues we need as to where he would hide himself. If you would like to see this through to the end, an official position is available for you here."

"Ooh, job offer!" Ellie punched Dutch on the arm. "Good on ya!"

"It is, of course, your decision." Nova Prime said kindly.

Dutch was silence for a moment, his strange _Predator_ like jaw grinding his teeth. Somehow Ellie was able to discern the emotions crossing his alien features. The greyness and the reptilian protrusions displayed mistrust, fear, anger and finally: determination.

"I believe that exile will do nothing to quench the wrath within the Accuser's soul, and that his very living still endangers your system. He has an iron will and his hatred burns bright. I would help you to prevent what has occurred here from ever occurring again."

"And we will gladly accept your help."

Nova Prime turned to face them all, looking at each of the Guardians of the Galaxy in turn.

"On behalf of the Nova Corps, we'd like to express our profound gratitude for your help in saving Xandar." She smiled at Ellie, who couldn't help but grin back. "If you will follow Denarian Dey, he has something to show you."

"Thank you, Nova Prime." Said Quill in a respectful tone, maintaining the extremely-out-of-character-persona he'd adopted since they had entered the office of Nova Prime. _I wonder how long that'll last. _Almost as though he could hear her thoughts, the second Nova Prime turned away, Quill began to primp his hair.

"Your wife and child shall rest well, knowing that you have avenged them." Gamora said to Drax as they walked from the room.

"Yes." Drax said, sounding satisfied and yet more peaceful than he had ever sounded. "Of course, Ronan was only a puppet. It's really Thanos I need to kill."

"Ooooo, do I smell a sequel?" Ellie chirped, earning her the customary strange looks.

"Ellie." Ellie stopped short at Nova Prime's voice, her blood turning to ice. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

Ellie gulped. _Whoa Nellie…_

"Haha, by _myself_? Sure, Mrs President, I mean Your Majesty – I mean, Nova Prime!" _For the love of all things holy, Ellie, shut up…_

"Nothing to worry about." Nova Prime said gently. "I just wanted to assure you that the Nova Corps would be more than happy to see to your safe return to Terra: it's only a couple of days away and it's the least we could do."

"Terra..? Home? You'd get me home?"

"Of course."

All time seemed to come to a shuddering stop: no one seemed to be breathing, and the stars stood still. Returning home. Some time ago that was all Ellie wanted, but now…_ Whoa, whoa, hold the phone! I can't go flying around the cosmos Willy Nilly, especially with 'Wreck It Ronan' still on the loose! Besides, I belong on earth, with my friends, family… _The faces of the Guardians of the Galaxy, her friends, bloomed in her mind. She felt a pain in her chest. _Would it be so bad to not go back..?_

Then all at once and with unnerving detail, memories crept up inside her. The pulse of the orb. The glow of its power as it enveloped her. How she was barely able to control it, even when lives were at risk…She had to figure it out. For everyone's sake and not least of all her own. She was the only one who could. _I just need time. Time to think._

"Thank you, Nova Prime. I think I'll have to take you up on that."

"There's also the matter of your long term safety once you have returned home. Until we apprehend the Accuser, I believe it necessary to provide you with some protection, and unfortunately that will be more challenging for _my _means if you were to return to Terra rather than remain here. However…" Nova Prime pursed her lips in thought. "I believe a certain administrative body on earth may be suited to your needs. They may even be able to shed some light on this infinity stone connection business. Though we will of course be researching into that also."

"Administrative body? Who?"

"I'll contact them as soon as I can, so you don't need to worry. They already know of the infinity stone's threat and have taken precautions against that, so I imagine helping you is in their best interests."

"I imagine the blue grouch is probably less than happy with me at the moment, so I hope you're right!" Ellie laughed nervously. Nova Prime smiled compassionately.

"Thank you for your time, Ellie. And thank you, once again, for your services to this system."

Nova Prime turned on her heel and walked gracefully away, flanked by her loyal bodyguards, Ellie watching her as she did so. After a few beats Ellie turned and followed the route the others had taken, striding out of Nova Prime's office through a pair of shining white doors and onto what looked like a landing platform. She squinted a little against the setting sun before managing to see Denarian Dey waving her over, standing next to – _holy hell, they brought back Quill's ship! That's a resurrection and a half!_

"Your criminal records have also been expunged." Denarian Dey was saying as she joined them. "However, I have to warn you against breaking any laws in the future."

Ellie blanched, throwing up her hands. "Aw man, I have a criminal record?!"

"Had." Denarian Dey smiled benevolently.

"Question." Rocket said. _Uh oh. Here we go…_ "What if I see something that I want to take, and it belongs to someone else?"

"You will be arrested."

"But what if I want it more than the person who has it?"

"It's still illegal." Denarian Dey said, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"That doesn't follow. No, I want it _more_, sir. Do you understand?" Ellie laughed loudly, placing a hand on either of Rocket's and ushering him away.

"What are you laughing at?" Rocket asked her, a grin unfolding on his face. "I can't have a discussion with this gentleman?"

"Not one that puts you at risk of ruining your newly spotless record! Ever heard of disrespect of authority?" Rocket scoffed at her. "Alright, stupid question."

Drax stepped forward, observing the way the setting sun shone against the smooth curves of Quill's new ship, before turning to Denarian Dey.

"What if someone does something irksome, and I decide to remove his spine?" He asked, a look of genuine interest on his face.

"That's...That's actually murder. It's one of the worst crimes of all." Denarian Dey said haltingly. "So... also illegal." He laughed nervously, shrugging as if to say: _What can you do? _Drax pursed his lips, made a _'well, that's interesting_' face, and sauntered off towards the ship.

Quill waltzed up beside Denarian Dey, watching the other Guardians walk towards the ship, mounting the ramp and disappearing into the winged ship. After a moment's thought he said:

"They'll be fine, Dey. I'm gonna keep an eye on 'em."

"You?" Denarian Dey asked with a hint of good natured amusement.

"Yeah. Me." Quill said. His voice was certain, without pause or caution: he had chosen his path and was happy with it. "Come on Kid, let's go."

He started walking towards the ship. Ellie stood still. After a moment Quill realised that she wasn't following him and stopped, his eyebrows raised in silent question. Ellie sighed.

"Quill. I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you guys."

Ellie waited with bated breath. Quill blinked a couple of times and then opened his mouth, then closed it again. His brow furrowed.

"Hold that thought." He eventually said. He sprinted up the ramp of his ship. Moments of silence passed.

"What do you mean she's not coming?" Rocket voice yelled loudly from inside the ship. Ellie blanched.

With speed that could have rivalled lightening, the Guardians of the Galaxy reappeared. Ellie had never seen such a mismatched group of people move faster.

"What do you mean you're not coming?" Rocket said forcefully again.

"I heard you." Ellie said with a small amount of mirth. It was short lived as she frowned, trying to explain herself. "You know something really not ordinary is going on with me, and I think that for all the science and clever minds in the universe, I have to be the one who figures it out. I don't know what part I'm playing here in the grand plan or even if I had a part to play, but I've got to do some thinking. I need some time away from the endless cosmos to figure stuff out. Plus, I don't know how dangerous this stuff I'm playing with is: I don't want to put you guys at risk."

"At _risk_?" Rocket said incredulously. "Have you been awake these past few days?"

"Yeah, think about yourself, kid." Quill said. "_Ronan Schmonan_ is still out there!"

"Nova Prime has already promised me protection. Besides, this isn't really goodbye, right? More like a _'see you next Friday for cocktails'_ kind of deal. Quill," Ellie said, turning to him in appeal. "You wouldn't have left your home and family if you'd had a choice, would you?"

Ellie rubbed her hands across her eyes, feeling suddenly weary.

"I can't just leave my mum, Peter." She said. "We only have each other."

She looked up from her hands to Quill, who was watching her very closely. She would have felt incredibly embarrassed by the sudden pouring out of her soul, had it not been for the change in Quill's face at that moment. There was a light of recognition, and then a deep shadow: a sorrow long supressed. Memories of another life flashed across his eyes: childhood, home, a woman with soft arms and bright eyes. Quill cleared his throat a little, slightly embarrassed.

"I get it." He said gruffly. "I get it completely."

Ellie breathed out a little shakily in relief and gave Quill a small smile of gratitude, before turning to the hulking figure next to him.

"See you around big guy. Don't crush too many skulls while I'm gone, okay?" She reached for Drax's enormous hands, and was only slightly surprised when he permitted her to hold his in both of hers.

"Farewell Ellie. You are a brave warrior, and I am honoured to have fought at your side."

"I don't think I did that much in the way of fighting, but thanks anyway Drax."

Drax gave a small smile, nodded once, and released her hands. He walked a short distance away to where Dutch stood ramrod straight like the soldier he once was: the new friendship between the two of them was just one of the many miracles that had unfolded that day.

Gamora and Ellie reached out simultaneously and embraced each other in a firm hug.

"I'm sorry about your sister." Ellie suddenly heard herself saying. _For some reason this feels important…_

"I did lose my sister that day, Ellie. But I have found another."

Ellie smiled broadly at the green skinned woman. "See you soon." She said. Gamora smiled: it was perhaps the most peaceful smile Ellie had ever seen on her face.

Rocket stood a few feet away, the small fingers of one of his hands fingering the end of his enormous shotgun. He stared at the ground at his feet furiously, not looking at anything else, even when Ellie approached.

"Stay out of trouble." Was all she could think to say.

"You too, blondie." Rocket said brusquely. His throat sounded like it was made of sandpaper. After a moment, he finally looked up at her, and Ellie could see the cracks in the mask. Practically reading her mind, Rocket placed baby Groot on the ground and opened his arms. His face still looked uncharacteristically stiff. Ellie crouched down and enveloped him with her arms, and he did the same.

"Seems ages since you pulled me out of that alley, doesn't it?" She said. _I'll leave out the fact that he was planning on looting my corpse…Bygones and all that._

"No." He said, pulling out of the hug and looking directly into her face. "_You_ pulled yourself out, Ellie. That's your special talent, isn't it? Don't ever change."

"I'll do my best to remain as dashing and as terminally irritating as ever." Ellie smiled somewhat tearfully, and then stood, reaching out to bring baby Groot up with her in his pot. "I'm going to miss you so much, Groot, my main man." She whispered secretly to the tiny shoot sprouting out of the plant pot. "You'll come and see me once you're grown again, right?"

Baby Groot's tiny arms grabbed her thumb.

"Yeah, I understand. '_I am Groot'_, right?" The tiny sprout's face grinned.

Passing Groot carefully back to Rocket, Ellie looked up in time to see Drax shaking Dutch's claw, followed by an amicable Gamora.

"What's to stop you from coming with us anyway?" Quill said as he meandered over to her. "I could sure use someone around who gets all my obscure movie and music references. It gets a little sad laughing at myself all the time."

"Trust me, you're _never_ the only one laughing at you, Quill." Ellie said with a snort and a laugh. Quill stared at her for a split second before chuckling and mussing her hair, much to her complaint._ Damn, no hairspray in space!_ She snickered as she flattened down her hair, untangling the strands before looking up at Quill. A look of shared knowing passed between the two Terrans, and nothing more needed to be said. _Home is home._ Quill huffed.

"Take care of yourself, Kid." He said gruffly.

"You too." Ellie said as he started to walk away. "Earth's changed a lot, by the way." She called. Quill stopped and looked round. "Drop back home if you ever get a moment, _Star-Lord_."

Quill grinned and waved one hand to show he had heard, and then disappeared into his ship, the door hissing shut behind him. Moments later the engines roared into life like beasts, the energy pulsating along the metal, propelling the mighty ship. The landing platform rumbled with it, its whiteness becoming scorched as the ship began to rise, the Xandarian sun glinting off its every turn. Below, the sounds of many raised cheers could be heard as Xandarians gave their brave rescuers a fond farewell. Ellie raised one arm into the air in her own private goodbye. Then, with movement too fast for the human eye to regulate, the winged mirage of Quill's ship vanished through the atmosphere.

One breath. Two. Then a third. _Oh dear Lord don't cry, don't you dare cry! _Ellie lowered herself slowly into a sitting position on the landing platform, wrapping her arms around her knees, watching the spot in the sky where the ship had hung just moments before.

Soft, clumping footsteps approached her from behind, padding across the landing platform with a soldier's proficiency. Dutch stopped to stand beside her, an odd sight against all the whiteness of Xandar's architecture. He looked down at her once before scanning the lines of the Xandarian cities, tracing them against the dying light.

"Back on the _Dark Aster_, you asked me why I was defying my oaths and master to help you. I did not have the chance to answer you."

"No, you didn't." Ellie managed to say thickly. _Is my face…? Yep, it's wet. Oh jeez. _She wiped her face on her sleeve.

"I confess that my reasons then were not noble or for the greater good. I saw the path of destruction set before me and I sought to save my own skin: knowing of your power, I thought you might make a useful ally, nothing more. But, these past few days I have felt a change within me, and I find that my reasons are changing, evolving into something else. This is new to me."

"Oh dear, you're not going all soppy on me are you ol' buddy ol' pal?" _Look who's talking…_

"I have travelled through the cosmos for many years. There are so many places in this universe, so many planets, so many different kinds of planets. You really have no idea. And then within that even more different kinds of people: separated by seas, boarders and creeds. Many of these people are happy. They have everything that they could need and more. People, Love, an idea to cling to. Many are happy and safe."

Dutch raised his head to the heavens.

"But many more are not. Many have no access to common comforts, to food, to water. Many cannot feed their children. Many are travelling far to escape violence and terror, only to reach that desired promised land of peace and find distrust and even more boundaries awaiting them. To be trapped in cages almost identical to the ones they knew before. Suspicious eyes and greedy hands. That's what greets the starving children." He was silent for a moment, and then he cleared his throat. "To defer to the question at hand once again. I am embarrassed to admit that it took quite some working out to be able form an answer that made sense. Granted, it did not make any sense to me before, but it does now."

"Ellie." Dutch said quietly. Ellie started as she heard her name pass through the reptilian's mouth for the first time. She looked up at his grey face: it was still scanning the skies. "My brothers in arms and I have stood for intolerance, hatred and ignorance for as long as I remember. Today, I realised something."

He looked down at her, and for the first time Ellie saw how human-like his eyes were as they searched her own.

"Who in their right mind has time for that nonsense?" He said.

Ellie looked up at Dutch for a long moment, before smiling. The tears stopped at last.

"You're finally starting to make sense, Dutch, my _petite Chou-Fleur_. I wish I could see to it that everyone thinks the way you do now."

"Not in a universe such as this. Such a thing is impossible."

After a long second Ellie looked away from Dutch, raising her head to the Xandarian heavens, within which the first sign of stars were beginning to appear, glittering.

"I don't think it's impossible, _cochise_. After all, if something's not impossible, there must be a way of doing it."

The eternities seemed to reach out to them both in that moment, enveloping them as they stood on the Xandarian earth looking up: they observed it with new eyes and a new wisdom. Ellie knew the Guardians of the Galaxy must be spinning across these same infinities in their ship at that very moment, free from the chains of their pasts, laughing at each other, themselves and at the Universe. She could see the ships broad wings cutting through the aether in her mind's eye, hear the comforting rumble of the engines, taste the excitement on the air. She felt near to them though they were so far from her, so much so that she could almost hear their voices.

"_So, what should we do next? Something good? Something bad? A bit of both?"_

"_We'll follow your lead, Star-Lord."_

"_Bit of both."_

* * *

**Hello folks! **

**This is the end! Thank you for reading and reviewing, and a special thank you to those who have been with Ellie this entire time: such companionship can make all the difference in the world.**

**If you feel unsatisfied and thirst for more, as the good old _Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy_ says: DON'T PANIC! There's a planned sneaky little Epilogue coming your way very soon!**

**\- Sarah**


	20. An Epiloguey Epilogue

"Infinity War?" Ellie asked, her eyes as round as saucers.

"Yep!"

"Infinity _War_?"

"Is there an echo in here?"

Ellie didn't bother rolling her eyes.

"Are you _sure_?" she asked. Marley, Ellie's _bestest friend in the whole galaxy _and the number one authority on all things _Marvel_, nodded. Taking a large gulp from his milkshake, he licked away the chocolaty foam before continuing.

"Yes ma'am. It's going to be the 'warriest' of wars! The industry has clocked on that they can double the money they make by prolonging stuff, so it's going to be in two parts. Mind you, with the enormous world that they've built, can you really blame them? According to the 'comic buffs', an artifact known as the 'Infinity Gauntlet' is going to be playing a huge role: the big purple alien's gonna get his hands on it – shoot, what's his name? I know this, I know this…"

"Thanos. Mad Titan. Bat-shit crazy."

"I thought you didn't watch _Marvel_? Well, yeah – Thanos, the purple guy, has got his hands on it and is going to do some really crazy stuff with it and with the infinity stones that he's got."

"Is that right? I mean, you can't know that for sure…"_ Whoa Nellie, I don't feel very well. _Ellie began to regret her choice of a 'combination shake.'

"It's what the comic says. Though you're right, they might not follow it exactly word for word, but it's not like any of the characters or plotlines are new just 'cause of the films. The comics came first. Why does everyone always forget that? Anyway," Marley ploughed on. "I reckon that _Thanos The King of Purple_ is really gonna ramp it up in the next one! All good movies have got to have at least one planet being completely decimated!"

Marley banged one hand on the table, making an explosion noise as he did so. Ellie could almost see the fragments of Alderaan.

"You're sick, you know that?" She felt another bout of nausea stir in her stomach.

Marley looked up from his shake, a bemused look on his face.

"What's got your knickers in a bunch?"

"My knickers are not in a bunch, thank you very much!" Ellie growled, and then she let out a long sigh which turned into a groan. "What a quagmire! Not even popular fiction is going to make this happier: it isn't nearly as funny when it's in your own universe. How upsetting is that?"

"That's why we have movies!" Marley said in a long suffering tone.

"Ah, yes – _movies_! Absolutely. Right on. Nail on the head. _Jackpot_!"

Marley shook his head, draining away the last of the delicious chocolaty foam, smacking his lips.

"Wow. You really are zonked out today, aren't you?" He said with a chuckle.

"Don't mind me; it's just been that kind of week."

"Sure. Listen, I'm going to have to shoot anyway: the groceries aren't going to just walk to my front door. Drop me a line when you're less cranky, grandma!"

"Sure thing, honey," Ellie said snidely, before grinning mischievously. Marley tried and failed to fight off a grin.

"Later alligator." He said with a friendly wave. He flounced out of the door, long hair swaying, to be swallowed up by the shopping crowds.

Ellie stirred the chocolaty substance in front of her absentmindedly, staring at the place where Marley had been, before resigning herself once more to her milkshake.

_One month_. One month since she had been catapulted into a larger galaxy, onto another world. One month since she had made friends out of outlaws, toured a new and beautiful galaxy with them, fought alongside them and been saved by them. One month since she had saved them in return. One month since the very real threat of _Smurphy_ the Accuser had been vanquished and zapped off to Mary and Joseph knows where.

One month since she had felt like a god.

One month since the Nova Corps had ceremoniously dropped her off on her mother's front-yard patio in true 'space opera' fashion. It had been an extremely stealthy operation: _d__on't want to wake the neighbours!_ A bubble of laughter almost erupted from her when she imagined poor old Mrs Hawkins just having a nightcap, minding her own business whilst glancing out the front window to look upon the night sky and its stars, only to be greeted by the sight of the extravagantly enormous Nova Corps reconnaissance ship.

_That would have made her teeth fly right out of her head for sure_! Ellie thought with an inward chortle. She could almost imagine the looks of mirth on her friend's faces at such a sight, and could almost hear Rocket's entertained laughter… Not even malted chocolate could fight off the melancholy.

She shook her head violently from side to side and slapped both her cheeks with her hands before she could start wallowing again. _Snap out of it! _She ordered herself mentally, not caring how crazy she knew she must look. _I had to come home. I _had_ to! I'm not cut out for the razzle dazzle of the spacey world! _The snarling face of Ronan the Accuser entered her mind. _There's no way I can deal with it! _

_Man, all this angsting is tiring; this should be my new workout! _Ellie yawned broadly, throwing her hands wide in a stretch, and thoroughly floored the milkshake of the man seated next to her.

_Holy moly! _She thought miserably.

"Ah, shoot! I'm so sorry! Man, I'm such a klutz." Leaping off her seat as though stung, Ellie took in the carnage on the floor with a groan. _That's definitely peanut butter flavour. Holy... _

A group of kids laughed at the sight from the other side of the restaurant. _Darn, if only I still had that infinity power…no, bad Ellie! _She chided herself.

"No matter." The man said briskly. His voice was deep and rich.

"Here, let me get you another one. Peanut butter, was it?" The man didn't object, but neither did he reply, so Ellie made some assumptions. "One large malted peanut butter milkshake please? Sorry about the mess."

Ellie waited nervously as the milkshake was mixed, a little unnerved by the lack of reaction from this guy. '_Moby Dick' is easier to read!_

"There you go, mister." She said, setting it in front of him with her face still red from embarrassment. "Not so sure about the flavour, but enjoy!" The man nodded slightly, still staring straight ahead.

"Yep. Peanut butter. That's where it's at…" Ellie trailed off, feeling an awkward sweat beginning to pool at the edges of her hair. The gentleman silently reached forward to wrap one hand around his new and unspoiled milkshake, not saying a single word. He was living evidence of the phrase 'silence is golden.' Ellie briefly thought about sharing her new favourite and coincidentally relevant joke with him (_How do you make a milkshake? Give a cow a pogo stick!_) but thought better of it. He stared straight ahead, seeming lost in thought.

"Rough time?"

Ellie was startled by his sudden speech. She turned to look at the man's serious profile, looked back at her milkshake, and burst into a fit of giggles.

"You can tell that?" She asked between sniggers. The man still didn't look at her, but raised his eyebrows as if to say: _seriously_?

"Yup, you could definitely say that!" She chortled. "It's been one heck of a crazy ride: you have no idea. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He was silent again. The gentleman took a large slurp through the straw, clearly savouring every moment of it, before meticulously placing the plastic container back on the counter. Then he turned in his seat.

Ellie looked up at him for a moment, planning on jokingly brushing her story off, before she stopped dead. Her eyes widened, her breath catching a little in her throat at the sight she now beheld. The face held so much and revealed so little. She barely met the steely piercing gaze before the stern mouth and the war hardened face caused her to notice the portion of scarred tissue on the dark skin, rugged and worn. Straight away, she found eye contact difficult.

After all, her gaze could only meet one eye, and one formidable black eye-patch.

"Try me." He said.

* * *

**Farewell, and a very Merry Christmas to you all!**

**\- Sarah.**


	21. Sequel!

Hello Folks!

I hope you're all doing well and are in good health. It's beyond fantastic to be back on here again: it's been a while!

Anyway, without further ado, I'm delighted to announce that due to popular demand, Ellie's story will continue!

The next installment shall be titled as follows:

**Bigger Egos, Daddy Issues and a Slightly Clued In Earth Chick.**

If you enjoyed this piece, go check it out!

Happy Reading!

\- Sarah.


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